Penguins lay 4 eggs at aquarium

Four penguin eggs have been found at the Tennessee Aquarium, signifying an early start to the nesting season among the aquarium's macaroni penguins.

Aquarium workers said the first eggs belong to the pairs of Little Debbie and Hercules, Sweet Pea and Merlin, and Chaos and Paulie.

One egg belonging to Little Debbie won't hatch because it was kicked out of the nest, said aviculturist Loribeth Aldrich, but the other eggs remain in their nests.

"They seem to be very attentive to their first egg, so hopefully Sweet Pea and Merlin will turn out to be great parents like Paulie and Chaos," said senior aviculturist Amy Graves.

The gentoo penguin nesting is moving at a slower pace than in prior years.

"We knew the macaronis were ready for this season," said Ms. Graves. "Once the macs got the rocks, the macaronis started building nests immediately. But we should start to see more gentoo activity now that a few eggs have started appearing in the exhibit."