‘Born in Maharashtra, must be named in Marathi’: Penguins now part of language row in Mumbai | Mumbai News

NEW DELHI: A row has erupted in Mumbai over the naming of three newly hatched penguin chicks at the city’s Byculla zoo with BJP leaders demanding they be given Marathi names instead of English ones. The protest, led by BJP functionary Nitin Bankar from the Byculla assembly constituency, took place outside the Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Botanical Udyan and Zoo — popularly known as Rani Baug — where the chicks were born earlier this year. “When penguins were brought from abroad to the Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Botanical Udyan and Zoo, we accepted that their names would be in English. However, Penguin chicks born here, on the soil of Maharashtra, should be given Marathi names,” Bankar said.

He claimed that repeated appeals to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which runs the zoo, had gone unheard. The zoo had named the chicks Noddy, Tom, and Pingu — continuing a tradition of English names that began when the first batch of Humboldt penguins arrived from South Korea in 2016. Bankar said the protest was not just about naming animals, but also about recognising Marathi’s classical language status. “We stood firm on our demand, but it was ignored. I had even written to the BMC administration, but no one responded,” he said. The penguin chicks were born to two penguin couples in March, zoo officials said. The first, Popeye and Olive, welcomed Noddy on 3 March. Daisy and Donald had two hatchlings — Tom on 7 March and Pingu on 11 March. This was the first successful batch of chicks at the zoo in over a year. “Tom gets his name to complement Jerry, a chick hatched in June 2023,” an official explained. “Tom, being the elder sibling, often gets more food regurgitated by the parents. We end up feeding Pingu.” The chicks are being cared for by their parents and monitored by zoo staff. “The babies are expected to start exploring the pool area once they are about three months old,” said Dr Abhishek Satam, biologist at the zoo. The hatchings have brought the total number of Humboldt penguins at the facility to 21. Zoo officials said they were fast-tracking expansion plans for the enclosure, which currently houses up to 25 birds. The proposed expansion — an additional 400 square feet — will increase capacity to around 40 penguins. With most of the birds now around 6–7 years old and able to breed until the age of 15, the zoo anticipates more additions in the coming years. The facility has drawn praise for its success in breeding the species in Indian conditions, officials said.