Meet the Tennessee Aquarium’s new macaroni penguin chick

Join us in welcoming one of the Tennessee Aquarium’s newest residents,

a macaroni penguin chick .

The chick is the first baby penguin to hatch in the Penguin’s Rock colony since 2021 + makes the aquarium home to three generations of macaroni penguins for the first time.

According to the aquarium, the chick has been growing at “an astronomical rate.” A day after hatching it weighed in at 145 grams + three weeks later weighed in at 1,592 grams — that’s the equivalent of a seven-pound human infant weighing 77 pounds before it was a month old.

The gender of the chick won’t be known until a blood test is conducted in November during the annual colony-wide checkup.

Bonus: The name of the chick will be determined this fall when the right to name it will be offered as a biddable item in the Aquarium’s annual fundraising auction.

Folks can see the penguin chick at the aquarium + watch from afar via the Penguin’s Rock webcam .