Wednesday June 24th 2026
McGinn the gentoo chick (photo by RZSS)
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
Edinburgh Zoo’s penguin colony has strengthened its squad with a promising new signing, McGinn the gentoo chick.
The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), the wildlife conservation charity that runs the zoo, named the youngster after Scottish footballer John McGinn ahead of the Scotland team’s final group game on Wednesday 24 June.
Alison MacLean, zoo keeper said: “After John McGinn scored Scotland’s first World Cup goal for 28 years we wanted to honour his achievement.
“We noticed one of our gentoo penguin chicks has a strong left flipper and knew we had to name them after the man himself.
“While our McGinn won’t be scoring goals anytime soon, we hope visitors will enjoy seeing the curious chick grow up. Who knows, they might just get a call from Steve Clarke for the 2030 squad.”
Keepers at the zoo’s Penguins Rock habitat have given the chick his very own version of a Scotland strip: a blue and white armband that will help him stand out from the crowd of over 150 penguins.
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