This is Zion.
Zion is an African penguin.
Zion the penguin was born Feb. 17 at the Audubon Nature Institute in New Orleans.
It was named after New Orleans Pelicans rookie Zion Williamson to honor his charitable act of covering the salary of Pelicans’ arena staff for 30 days shortly after the NBA season was postponed.
“In this time of uncertainty, Zion embraced the New Orleans community with a truly remarkable act of generosity after NBA season halted,” Audubon posted on its Instagram page.
Zion the penguin was in an incubation period for 39 days before being born to mother Hubig and father Ocio.
The parents raised him for about 11 days until the baby needed to be taken into human care.
It was fed a formula made of fish and vitamins until it put on more weight and “graduated” to pieces of fish, according to an Audubon YouTube video.
While Zion the penguin and Zion the basketball player don’t have much in common — one is a bird that makes its stuffed animal look big and the other is a man that makes professional athletes look small — both are becoming the darlings of New Orleans.
Audubon contributes to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ SAFE program, an animal conservation effort.
In the early 1900s, AZA believes there were nearly a million breeding pairs of African penguins. By 1956 that number had decreased to about 141,000 pairs.
This century, it is estimated that there are less than 25,000 pairs.
