BOSTON (WHDH) - The New England Aquarium is introducing the newest member to their family.
A new African penguin named Bray made her public debut Wednesday.
“We’ve had 108 African penguin chicks over the Aquarium’s history,” said Brendan Dugan, a trainer with the aquarium. “Because of Covid, we had to cut back on breeding seasons, so we haven’t been able to breed for the past couple years “with her being our first African penguin chick since 2019.”
Bray was hatched in late March after being raised by her parents and animal care trainers. Now, at around three months old, she has her first waterproof features, allowing her to join the rest of the penguins. Trainers said she is ready to learn to swim safely.
“When she was first starting to drop her downy feathers from being a chick, we introduced her to quick swims in our behind the scenes area and once she had grown in her juvenile feathers, her weather-proof feathers, we gave her little field trips up to the habitat here,” Dugan said.
Bray joins some of her relatives in the penguin exhibit, including her great-grandmother Deco, the oldest penguin at the aquarium at age 41. African penguins have a life expectancy of about 10 to 15 years in their native habitat, but the species is endangered, so every little hatchling is a big deal.
“Their population has diminished by about 97% over the past 100 years so unfortunately there’s only about 10,400 pairs left in the wild as of last summer,” Dugan said.
Trainers said Bray is already a hit with visitors and invite everyone to come spot their newest addition.
“Bray has a gray and white feather coat, where all the other African penguins have their adult features, so they have a black and white coloration pattern,” said. “We’re able to tell visitors when they come in who she is and show her.”
(Copyright (c) 2026 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)