Tokyo Sea Life Park currently houses five King Penguin: Cool (male), Umi and Urara (females), Sora (sex unknown), and a chick that hatched on September 17, 2013.

This chick is Cool and Umi's second offspring, and will be either a younger sibling (sex is still unknown) to Sora, who hatched in 2011. Until it grew bigger, it was kept in a non-public reserve enclosure (air-conditioned room), but on January 7, 2014, it was moved to the penguin enclosure ahead of its public debut on January 11.

On the morning of January 8th, we began training the chicks and their parents to go out into the exhibit area. Despite it being a long time since they'd been there, the parents walked calmly, leading their chicks smoothly into the exhibit area. From the second day onwards, the parents also entered the pool and began swimming leisurely among Humboldt Penguin.

The chick has had its share of mishaps, such as being pecked by the older Sora, being bothered by the rockhopper penguins, and struggling to get back onto land after joining the others in the pool. However, it has now completely adapted to its new environment and often enjoys sunbathing with its parents on the artificial rocks during the day. If you're lucky, you might even be able to observe the chick begging its parents for food with its distinctive "peeyo peeyo" sound.

We are accepting name suggestions for the penguin chicks in the "Penguin Ecology" area until February 2nd.

-" King Penguin chick exhibit begins, name suggestions welcome" (January 9, 2014)

This is a selection-based system where you choose from 10 name options. Please take a look at the chicks and vote for the name you think is most suitable. We would greatly appreciate your vote!

Photo: The chick (center) enjoys sunbathing on a rock with its parents.

[Tokyo Sea Life Park]

(January 31, 2014)