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New Penguin Chicks Debut At Maryland Zoo, All Named After Literary Book Characters

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The wait is finally over.

A group of African penguin chicks that were born in October has arrived at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore.

The new group of penguins is all named after literary characters.

They have names like Gatsby for The Great Gatsby, Zorro for the fictional hero and Coraline, the main character of a fantasy children's novel.

This is the 50th year that the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore has picked a specific theme for the names of a group of hatchlings.

The African penguin is an endangered species whose population has declined by 90 percent since the turn of the 20th century.

The current wild population is estimated at 52,000 penguins.

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