Watch: Macaroni penguin hatches at Tennessee Aquarium

Ben Hooper
·1 min read
UPI
The Tennessee Aquarium announced the hatching of a macaroni penguin, the first penguin chick to hatch at the facility since 2021. Photo courtesy of the Tennessee Aquarium

July 3 (UPI) -- The Tennessee Aquarium announced the hatching of an "impossibly cute" macaroni penguin chick at the Penguins' Rock gallery.

The aquarium said the chick's parents, Bacon and Merlin, tended to the egg laid in April and the new baby hatched June 2.

"It seems like it has a little type A personality," assistant curator of forests Loribeth Lee said in a news release. "It cracked the egg perfectly, straight down the middle. We've never really seen that."

The aquarium posted a video to social media showing the "insane speed" at which the chick has been growing since hatching.

The baby, now on display at the Penguins' Rock gallery, is the aquarium's first hatchling since the 2021 arrival of gentoo penguin Carla.

The aquarium is now home to 9 macaroni penguins and 14 gentoo penguins.

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