NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — The votes are in and a new penguin chick at the Aquarium of Niagara now has a name.
The new male Humboldt penguin chick will go by Cusco.
The name, pronounced “kooz-koh,” refers to a city in southwestern Peru, which is in the native environment of the penguin species in the western coast of South America.
The other options people were asked to vote on were Bolt and Gus. Gus was the early front runner, according to the aquarium, but Cusco took the lead in the end with 56% of the votes.
Cusco hatched along with another chick named P.T. in April. P.T. was named by a donor who made a gift to help with the 2018 renovation of the aquarium’s penguin habitat.
The parents of Cusco and P.T. came to the aquarium in 2019 from the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. This was part of the Association of Zoos and Aquarium’s (AZA) Species Survival Plan (SSP). Humboldt penguins are considered vulnerable to extinction on the ICUN’s Red List of Threatened Species. The aquarium works to match genetically strong penguins to sustain their population.
A meet and greet of the penguin chick will be hosted on the aquarium's Facebook page at 10:30 a.m. on Friday.
Cusco can currently be seen at Penguin Coast and can be identified by the pink band on his right wing.