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National Aviary Reveals Gender, Name Of Penguin Chick

By: KDKA-TV News Staff

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The baby penguin at the National Aviary finally has a name.

The chick hatched back in January, but it was only recently that a DNA test could be performed on the baby's feathers.

It revealed the chick's gender to be a girl, and the name Marge has been chosen by one of the Aviary's donors in honor of his own mother.

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(Photo Credit: National Aviary/Mike Faix)

A penguin's gender cannot be determined just by looking at the bird. Instead, the Aviary says a DNA test must be performed once the bird's juvenile feathers start to come in.

The National Aviary says the juvenile feathers grow in to replace the chick's soft, downy fuzz. The feathers make the penguin waterproof for swimming and diving.

At almost 3-months-old, little Marge is nearing adult size. She'll later be getting her own wing band to help identify her from the rest of the Aviary's penguin colony.

She is the 11th African Penguin chick to hatch at the National Aviary.

With only about 13,000 pairs remaining in the wild in South Africa, the National Aviary says African Penguins are endangered.

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