NJ voted and Adventure Aquarium has now named its 53rd African penguin chick

🐧 Public names Adventure Aquarium’s 53rd African penguin chick after voting

🌍 Birth marks major milestone for critically endangered African penguin species

🎉 The chick will join the colony this spring

CAMDEN — After two weeks of public in-person voting, the 53rd African Penguin chick born at a South Jersey aquarium has been named.

African penguin chick born at Adventure Aquarium in Camden

This fuzzy little creature was born on November 21 at Adventure Aquarium to Mushu and Hubert, the couple’s second-ever chick.

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Critically endangered species reaches rare milestone

Number 53’s (as he was originally referred to) birth marks a significant milestone for the African Penguin species, which was reclassified as critically endangered in October 2024 by the International Union of the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) due to habitat loss and environmental changes, aquarium officials said in a released statement.

“With experts warning that African penguins could be functionally extinct by 2035 without continued conservation action, each successful hatch represents meaningful progress for the future of the species,” aquarium officials said.

Public voting raises funds for penguin conservation

Given the importance of this birth, Number 53 could never be called just that. He needed a proper name.

The name was voted on by the public from January 5 to January 19 through donations, with all proceeds benefitting the AZA Safe African Penguins and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds.

Voters had four names to choose from—Flounder, Scrappy, Toothless, and Zero. The names were selected by the Birds and Mammals team at Adventure Aquarium.

In case you haven’t noticed, the name choices followed the theme of “sidekicks and dragons,” inspired by the chick’s mother, Mushu.

And the winning name is……

Scrappy!

If we’re talking sidekicks here, Scrappy, most famously Scrappy-Doo, is a sidekick from the Scooby-Doo franchise.

The public can’t see Scrappy just yet, though.

However, he is on target to join the penguin colony at Adventure Aquarium in the spring. He still needs to develop waterproof feathers.

However, guests are invited to follow Adventure Aquarium on social media for ongoing updates, milestones, and behind-the-scenes looks as the penguin chicks grow.

It’s been quite the season for penguin babies at the aquarium. Two other chicks, named Duffy and Oscar, were also born there in early November.

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