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Meet The Penguins!Blue Penguins The Latest Addition To Exhibit
But if you insist on asking, aquarist Dan Laughlin will give you this very scientific explanation: "They're really cute," he says with a smile. "They're just great little animals." The colony of blue penguins that live at the aquarium is one of the first exhibits visitors see when they step inside the building. But thanks to a little Web cam perched above their nook, visitors to TheBostonChannel.com can check out the penguins' activities throughout the day without leaving their computers.
Of the 17 species of penguins, the blues are the smallest, Laughlin says. They are native to Australia and New Zealand. As adults, they average 2 or 2-and-a-half pounds and usually grow to be about 8 inches tall. Appropriately enough, Laughlin says, their scientific name, Eudyptula minor, means "good little diver."
The birds live a cushy life at the aquarium, resting when they feel like it on an elaborate rock formation dotted with tiny caves. This is where they make their homes and lay their eggs. When they feel the need, they dive into the water for a little swim.
Just like all people should, the penguins receive three square meals a day. Aquarium staff keeps a log each day of how much fish each penguin consumes. There are 11 blue penguins at the aquarium, including two yet-to-be-named babies that live in the nursery. Born in May, each of the babies is expected to join the colony when they're about 80 days old. Laughlin says that it's standard procedure to remove the babies from the colony about 40 days after hatching, when they're almost fully grown. It's a way of replicating life in the wild, when parents abandon their chicks and head out to sea.
This practice has some interesting side effects, because penguin parents don't recognize their children once they've been separated and then returned to the tank. As a result, aquarium officials have to keep a close eye on them to make sure parents and children don't subsequently mate. "They can be quite vocal when they're in a romantic mood," he says, noting that if related penguins begin to take a shine to one another, aquarium workers introduce them to more appropriate partners.
Laughlin says it's rewarding to breed the penguins, which are not an endangered species. By working to expand populations, aquarium officials hope to educate visitors that penguins and people share the same planet and need to learn to live together. Laughlin says the blues are the most primitive of all penguin species, and are closely related to their flying ancestors. Sometimes they even act as if they think they can fly. At times, they'll stand and walk less upright than their penguin bretheren, "almost like a bird you would see in your yard," Laughlin says.
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The penguins came to the exhibit in April, 1998. They're one of three penguin species at the aquarium, along with the rockhoppers and Africans. 
Each bird is identified with a beaded bracelet that is placed around one of its wings. The penguins have been christened with educational names, with some given traditional aboriginal monikers and others named for places in Australia where blue penguins originate. 
Because the adults can't swim away from an aquarium environment, however, it's up to the staff to take the place of the parents and accelerate the weaning process. 
Eventually the aquarium would like to expand their blue penguin colony to 10 breeding pairs and 10 juveniles. 