{"id":78231,"date":"2026-01-05T12:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T12:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/78231\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T12:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T12:22:08","slug":"camdens-adventure-aquarium-welcomes-new-baby-african-penguin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/78231\/","title":{"rendered":"Camden’s Adventure Aquarium welcomes new baby African penguin"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Camden and Cherry Hill to Trenton and the Jersey Shore, what about life in New Jersey do you want WHYY News to cover? Let us know.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Adventure Aquarium in Camden is welcoming the latest addition to its African penguin colony with a naming contest that will raise money for the critically endangered species.\n<\/p>\n

The 53rd chick to be born at the aquarium, known now as 53, hatched on Nov. 21. He joined two other chicks, Duffy and Oscar, that were born at the beginning of November.
\n\"threeOscar and Duffy (right) with the third African penguin chick (left) who will be named in a naming contest to raise money for the species\u2019 conservation at the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, N.J. (Kimberly Paynter\/WHYY)\n<\/p>\n

African penguins live on the coast of South Africa and Namibia, amid sandy beaches and warm weather. The species was reclassified as critically endangered<\/a> in October 2024 by the International Union of the Conservation of Nature, due in large part to people overfishing and depleting penguins\u2019 food supplies.\n <\/p>\n

The aquarium\u2019s exhibit for its more than 30 African penguins mimics their environment in South Africa, said Maddie Olszewski-Pohle, a biologist who works with the African penguins at the aquarium.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also have pool access for them at all times, so they can swim and act out their natural behaviors,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd we like to recreate those temperatures in the pool as well, so we will vary the temperatures in the pool for them.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Oscar, Duffy and 53 are learning how to eat food from the staff at the aquarium and get on a scale. At 3 months old, their waterproof feathers will come in and they will start swimming. At that point, the three penguins will join the larger colony.\n<\/p>\n

So far, Olszewski-Pohle said that each of the chicks have started to exhibit their own personalities. Duffy is \u201ca big talker,\u201d she said, and is also \u201cvery, very smart,\u201d picking up on training quickly. Oscar is a little more timid, and can be a little \u201cgrouchy,\u201d Olszewski-Pohle said.
\n\"anSome adults in the African penguin colony wait for meal at Adventure Aquarium in Camden, N.J. (Kimberly Paynter\/WHYY)\n<\/p>\n

She said that 53 is still learning from his fellow chicks. In a recent outing at the aquarium, he toddled behind the slightly bigger chicks and snuggled close as he observed his surroundings.\n<\/p>\n

The naming contest, which launches Monday, invites aquarium visitors to vote for one of four names \u2014 Scrappy, Zero, Flounder and Toothless \u2014\u00a0 via a donation to conservation partner, SANCCOB<\/a>. Donation boxes and voting will take place onsite.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Camden and Cherry Hill to Trenton and the Jersey Shore, what about life in New Jersey do…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[35730,7980,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-78231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-aquarium","tag-camden","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}