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    25 June 2012| last updated at 01:34PM

    Runaway penguin 'No 337' to be named



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    TOKYO: A penguin whose break-out from an aquarium in Japan gave him a following around the world is to be formally named after months of being known just by his number, an official said Monday.

    Humboldt penguin No. 337 spent 82 days at large in and around Tokyo Bay  after bolting his enclosure, evading aquarium staff, an army of public  onlookers and even Japan’s well-equipped coastguard.

    But until his recapture last month and subsequent thorough medical  check-up, keepers did not even know what gender the plucky escapee was, and had  insisted he did not have a name.

    Now officials at Tokyo Sea Life Park have launched a competition asking  visitors to think of what the bird should be called.

    “We decided to give him a pet name by soliciting ideas and their reasons  from visitors,” said aquarium official Takashi Sugino.

    “This is a special treatment to express our gratitude to the public for  providing information on the bird, and also for cooperating with us by  listening to our call not to try to capture him,” he said.

    Visitors are being asked to watch the creature — now safely back in his  enclosure — before putting their suggestion in a box, Sugino said, admitting  the aquarium was expecting a spike in numbers.

    Nominations opened on June 15 and will end on July 1, said Sugino, adding “a naming committee comprising the aquarium director, the vice director and  keepers will pick the most appropriate name.” - AFP

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