BOSTON (WHDH) - Three African penguin chicks made their exhibit debut at the New England Aquarium Thursday morning.
The three penguins hatched about two months ago weighing just a few fluffy ounces.
These endangered, young penguins are now 50 times heavier weighing between six and seven pounds each, the size of a full-grown adults, according to the aquarium
The aquarium says these now juvenile birds do not sport the black and white plumage of their parents but rather a shiny, steel grey color.
The coloring helps clearly identify them as this year or last year’s young, the aquarium says.
According to the aquarium, two of the three chicks are siblings.
The father of the other chick is named Roast Beef, the Aquarium’s most famous penguin who has made dozens of field trips to area schools and has been the star of past marketing campaigns.
The aquarium says that African penguins can be found in the wild in South Africa and Namibia.
In the past two decades, their population has dropped dramatically due to oil pollution, overfishing and the effects of climate change, the aquarium says.
The Aquarium has hatched chicks from three different penguin species for decades as part of the species survival plan for penguins.
Over the years, the Aquarium’s penguin biologists have successfully raised hundreds of chicks. Some are part of the near 100 penguins on exhibit at the New England Aquarium while dozens of others can be found at zoos and aquariums across North America.
The Aquarium says that most penguin species in the wild are either threatened or endangered, and penguin populations in aquariums are a potential DNA reservoir for their wild brethren.
(Copyright (c) 2026 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)