NAMING HONOUR: The Deep's gentoo penguin Attenborough has been named after the famous naturalist and broadcaster who wrote a letter saying it was an honour
Renowned broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough says he is "greatly flattered" after staff at The Deep named a penguin chick after him.
Aquarists at The Deep have finally been able to discover the sex of the two gentoo penguin chicks which hatched in June from DNA in a tail feather.
The first chick to have hatched from parents Nessie and Shackleton is a male, and has been named after Sir David Attenborough. The second chick from parents Leo and Diane is female, and has been named Lizzie in honour of the Queen.
Pictured is The Deep's gentoo penguin Lizzie which has been named after the Queen alongside a letter sent by the aquarium
The Deep wrote to inform Sir David Attenborough of his namesake and received a hand written reply saying he is "greatly flattered that (they) should have given (their) new Gentoo my name". He has also congratulated The Deep on "all (they)u are doing to further conservation causes".
Katy Duke, curator at The Deep, was delighted to receive the hand-written letter.
She said: "We are very honoured and touched to have received a handwritten reply from Sir David Attenborough. He is an inspiration and an amazing role model who inspires us all by his conservation work and by engaging everyone with the natural world.
"Lizzie and Attenborough are now fully grown and living happily with our adult birds.
"We work with the European breeding programme for Gentoo penguins and so in time our individual birds may move to other facilities in order to form new breeding groups."
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