BALTIMORE — The Maryland Zoo recently introduced 11 juvenile African penguins - all named after spices - into the nearly 100-bird colony.
The birds hatched between October 2019 and January 2020, and were raised behind the scenes by the animal care team.
Now that temperatures are warmer and the new penguins have replaced their downy chick feathers with slick swimming feathers, it was time for them to make a splash.
The Zoo has been hatching penguin chicks for more than 50 years, celebrating the arrival of chick number 1000, Millie, in 2018, and naming the chicks each year with a different theme.
This year, the Penguin Coast care team selected spices as the naming theme. The Zoo partnered with Maryland-based McCormick & Company for the naming contest, name announcements and sustainable seafood recipes to help support penguin conservation.
While the Zoo is currently closed to the public, the penguins can be seen on live cams here.
