NJ aquarium needs your help as it welcomes a triple surprise

🔴 A Camden aquarium has welcomed three babies to its family

🔵Two have been named but one has not

🔴The aquarium will hold a contest to name the third feathered friend

CAMDEN — Triple baby boom alert at a beloved New Jersey aquarium.

Three new little blue penguins were born at Adventure Aquarium in Camden in the past month—two girls, and a third, whose gender and name have not been revealed.

That’s where you, the public can help. A contest will soon be held on social media to name the last one, but details of the contest have not yet been revealed.

Little blue penguins, which hail from the coasts of Australia and New Zealand, get their name from their plumage of slate-blue feathers and stature as the smallest penguin species, the aquarium explained in a Facebook post.

One female named Bananas Foster was hatched on January 26 to parents Chip and Truffle. She had a rough time from the get-go, after surviving a parenting issue. It turns out these first-time penguin parents neglected to sit on and incubate their egg, a necessary step to keeping a baby chick alive until it hatches, according to a statement from Adventure Aquarium.

However, the Aquarium curator Nikki Grandinetti said Bananas Foster’s egg was placed in an incubator.

At that point, the egg was placed with tenured parents, Kororaa, and Phillip, so they could continue incubating the egg until its hatch date and serve as foster parents to the newborn chick. The pair readily cared for and fed Bananas until she grew large enough to eat whole fish. She has since been brought into biologist care to learn how to take fish and other necessary skills to be a penguin at the Aquarium, according to a statement.

The second female, Kiwi hatched on February 6 to parents, Sheila and Spud. She joins the colony alongside her siblings, brother Tater Tot, and half-sisters, Adelaide, Elanora, Aroha, and Phoenix, all brooded by Sheila.

The last penguin chick was just born on February 12 to parents Maremma and Bloke. However, the chick’s name and sex have not yet been determined. The Aquarium will launch a naming contest next week to pick an official name. So, stay tuned to the Aquarium's social media to cast your vote. Penguin lovers can cast a vote for their favorite of four names. After a week of voting, the Aquarium will announce the chick's official new name.

“These chicks are a welcome addition to the Aquarium family and important ambassadors to their species,” according to their Facebook page.

“We are so excited to have another successful breeding season among our little blue penguin colony. Welcoming any number of new chicks is always exciting. We have been fortunate to welcome eight chicks over the past three seasons,”Graninetti said.

Visitors can’t see Bananas Foster, Kiwi, and the mystery chick yet. Graninetti said the trio will remain enclosed until they are two months old. But when they are out on display, they will be in the howdy pen on Little Blue Beach.

Fun fact about a little blue penguin chick: It gains around 10% of their body weight daily during the first week after hatching and reaches adult size in just two months. At this time, the chicks are considered juvenile and will have all their waterproof plumage, which helps the birds stay dry while swimming and maintain an ideal body temperature, the Aquarium explained.

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