Meet Nia, The Shedd Aquarium's Magellanic Penguin Chick
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The first Magellanic penguin chick bred at the Shedd Aquarium has a name: Nia.
Hatched on Mother's Day weekend, Nia gets her name from Patagonia, the region in South America from where the species hails.
While Nia is as big as adult penguins, she's still easily identifiable by her lighter colored feathers.
Shedd Aquarium is home to two species of penguins, Magellanic and rockhopper. The rockhopper penguins at Shedd are older, and have been breeding successfully for years, but the younger Magellanic penguins are just now reaching reproductive age, so Nia is likely just the first of many Magellanic penguin chicks to be hatched at the aquarium.
"It's an exciting time for the penguin colonies at the aquarium," said Lana Vanagasem, manager of penguins and otters at Shedd Aquarium. "While our Magellanics are maturing and beginning to pair off and breed, some of our rockhoppers are living to ages we've never seen before. As a caretaker, both situations present their own sets of challenges and rewarding moments."
Visitors at the Shedd Aquarium can see Nia and the other penguins at the Polar Play Zone habitat, in the Oceanarium.