SYRACUSE -- Officials at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo announced today the winning entry in the zoo’s penguin chick naming contest. 

Ashley Redhead, age 15, of Bridgeport, submitted the winning name, Marisol.  The word “mar” in Spanish means “sea” and the word “sol” means “sun,” loosely translating the name to mean “sunny sea.”   “I thought it would be cute because we can always use sun in Syracuse,” said Redhead.

There were 379 suggestions submitted, which were narrowed to six finalists by the judges: Alita, Chica, Marisol, Nena Pingüina, Pepita and Plumita.  After two weeks of voting, Marisol rose to the top with 27 percent of the 729 votes.

Marisol, a female, hatched on July 22 and is the first chick to have hatched in the outside exhibit at Penguin Coast; all of the zoo’s other chicks hatched in the indoor animal husbandry room.  She is the first offspring of her parents, Sergio and Nero.  Sergio hatched at the zoo in 2007; Nero arrived with the original colony from the Portland Zoo in 2005.

“This has been a wonderful community project,” said Janet Agostini, executive director of Friends of the Zoo.  “Education is a huge part of the zoo’s mission and we heard from several teachers who used this contest as part of their curriculum – it’s been wonderful.”

Courtesy: Onondaga County Parks