Little penguin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Little penguin |
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Eudyptula
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| Eudyptula minor |
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Little penguins (Eudyptula minor) are also known as fairy penguins or little blue penguins. They are a species of penguin that lives near the coasts of Australia and New Zealand. The little penguin is the smallest of all penguins.
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Description
Little penguins have wings that have become strong flippers, perfect for swimming. They usually grow to about 30 to 33 cm (12 to 13 in) tall and weigh around 1.5 kg (3.3 lb). Their heads and upper bodies are blue, with light grey feathers around their ears. Their undersides, from chin to belly, are white. Their flippers are also blue.
These penguins have a dark grey-black beak that is 3–4 cm long. Their eyes can be pale silvery-grey, bluish-grey, or hazel. Their feet are pink on top with black soles and webbing. Young penguins have shorter beaks and lighter upper parts.
Like many seabirds, little penguins can live a long time. On average, they live about 6.5 years. However, some penguins have lived up to 25 years in zoos.
Where Little Penguins Live
Little penguins build their nests along the coasts of New Zealand, the Chatham Islands, and southern Australia. This includes places like New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia. There are also reports of little penguins in Chile and South Africa, but it's not clear if they live there permanently.
Scientists estimate there are about 350,000 to 600,000 little penguins in the world.
Little Penguins in New Zealand
Overall, the number of little penguins in New Zealand has been going down. Some groups have disappeared, and others are still at risk. However, some new groups have started living in cities. The white-flippered subspecies, found only on Banks Peninsula, is considered endangered.
Little Penguins in Australia
Most Australian little penguin groups live on islands off the coast. This helps protect them from animals like foxes and dogs, and from people disturbing their nests.
New South Wales
A group of little penguins lives in Manly, near Sydney. This group is protected, but its numbers have dropped from hundreds to about 60 pairs. This is likely due to losing their homes, attacks by foxes and dogs, and people disturbing their nests.
The biggest group in New South Wales is on Montague Island, with up to 8,000 breeding pairs nesting there each year.
Victoria
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The largest group of little penguins in Victoria is on Phillip Island. Every night, visitors can watch the "penguin parade" as the penguins walk across Summerland Beach. Phillip Island is home to an estimated 32,000 breeding pairs. You can also see little penguins near the St Kilda, Victoria pier and breakwater.
Other places where little penguins live include London Arch and The Twelve Apostles along the Great Ocean Road.
Western Australia
The largest group of little penguins in Western Australia is thought to be on Penguin Island. About 1,000 pairs nest there in winter. Penguins also nest on Garden Island and Carnac Island.
Threats to Little Penguins
Little penguins face several dangers that can harm their populations.
Human Activities
- Culling: In the past, people in Tasmania thought penguins were competing with other birds they hunted, so they allowed penguins to be killed.
- Human Development: When people build homes near penguin colonies, it can cause problems. Penguins might get hit by cars, their homes might be burned or cleared, and their nesting areas can be disturbed.
- Human Interference: Penguins can be harmed by people, especially when they are on land to molt or nest. There have been sad cases where penguins were hurt or killed by people.
- Fishing: Some penguins drown in fishing nets set by amateur fishermen. Discarded fishing lines can also trap penguins, causing injuries or drowning. In the past, fishermen also intentionally caught penguins to use as bait.
Pollution
- Oil Spills: Oil spills are very dangerous for penguins. Oil is poisonous if swallowed, and it damages their feathers, making them lose their ability to float and stay warm.
- Plastic Pollution: Penguins sometimes eat plastic because they mistake it for food. This can choke them or fill their stomachs, making them feel full even when they are starving. Larger plastic items, like bottle rings, can get stuck around their necks.
Predators
Little penguins are hunted by various animals on land, including cats, dogs, rats, foxes, and stoats. Because little penguins are small and new predators have been introduced, some colonies have shrunk a lot. For example, a small group on Middle Island in Victoria went from about 600 penguins to less than 10 in just a few years due to fox attacks.
To protect the penguins on Middle Island, conservationists started using Maremma Sheepdogs. These dogs guard the colony and scare away foxes, helping the penguin numbers grow again. The first Maremma sheepdog to do this was named Oddball, and his story even inspired a movie!
Uncontrolled dogs or feral cats can also kill many penguins quickly. Foxes have also caused significant deaths in colonies like Manly and at the Melbourne Zoo.
Prey Availability
Sometimes, there isn't enough food for the penguins, especially for young birds. This can cause them to starve or become very weak.
Predator Management
On land, little penguins are vulnerable to attacks from domestic and wild dogs and cats. To help, people create dog-free zones near penguin colonies and make sure dogs are on leashes in nearby areas.
Long-nosed fur seals and white-bellied sea eagles also hunt little penguins, but these natural predators are not considered a major threat to the overall penguin population.
Behaviour
Little penguins are active during the day, like many penguin species. They spend most of their day swimming and hunting for food in the sea. When they are raising their chicks, they leave their nests at sunrise, look for food all day, and return to their nests just after sunset.
Little penguins keep their feathers waterproof by rubbing a tiny drop of oil onto each feather from a special gland above their tail. This is called preening.
Diet
These birds hunt small fish, squid, and crustaceans (like shrimp). They travel and dive quite a bit to find their food. In New Zealand, they eat things like arrow squid and slender sprat. In Australia, their diet includes barracouta, anchovy, and arrow squid. Interestingly, they also actively seek out jellyfish to eat.
Little penguins usually feed close to the shore. They often dive no deeper than 2 meters (6.5 feet) and stay underwater for about 21 seconds. However, they can dive as deep as 20 meters (65 feet) and stay submerged for up to 60 seconds!
Reproduction
Little penguins mature at different ages. Females are ready to breed at 2 years old, while males mature at 3 years old. They stay with the same partner during the breeding season and while hatching eggs. At other times of the year, they might switch burrows. They tend to return to the same nesting colonies and nesting spots year after year.
Little penguins can breed alone, in large groups, or in smaller groups. They build their nests close to the sea in burrows they dig themselves, or in caves, rock cracks, under logs, or even in man-made structures like nest boxes. Both parents share the job of incubating the eggs and raising the chicks. They are the only penguin species that can lay more than one set of eggs in a breeding season, but not all groups do this.
The timing of breeding changes depending on where they live. In eastern Australia, they lay eggs from July to December. In South Australia, eggs are laid between April and October.
They usually lay one or two white or lightly spotted brown eggs. Sometimes, they lay a second or even third set of eggs. The eggs hatch after up to 36 days. Chicks stay in the nest for 18–38 days and are ready to leave after 7–8 weeks.
Little penguins usually return to their colonies at dusk to feed their chicks. They tend to come ashore in small groups. This helps protect them from predators, who might pick off individual penguins. In Australia, the strongest colonies are usually on islands that don't have cats or foxes.
Relationship with Humans
Little penguins have always fascinated humans, especially children. You can often see them in zoos. In the past, they were sometimes used as bait for fishing or even eaten by shipwrecked sailors. They have also been harmed by people and accidentally caught in fishing nets.
Many breeding colonies have become popular places for tourists to visit. This helps the local economy and also supports conservation efforts, like counting penguins, improving their homes, and doing research.
Night Tours
In places like Phillip Island in Victoria, Australia, and Oamaru in New Zealand, special viewing areas have been set up. Visitors can watch the penguins return to their nests at dusk. Lights are used so people can see the birds, but photography and filming are usually not allowed because it can scare or harm the penguins.
You can also see little penguins on Penguin Island in Western Australia, Kangaroo Island in South Australia, and in Bicheno, Tasmania.
Habitat Restoration
People are working to improve nesting sites for little penguins, especially on Kangaroo Island. This includes building artificial burrows and planting new vegetation.
Zoo Exhibits
Australia
You can see little penguins at many zoos and aquariums in Australia, including the Adelaide Zoo, Melbourne Zoo, Perth Zoo, and Sea Life Sydney Aquarium.
New Zealand
In New Zealand, little penguins are on exhibit at the Auckland Zoo, Wellington Zoo, and the National Aquarium of New Zealand.
North America
A group of little blue penguins lives at the New England Aquarium in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Mascots and Logos
Linus Torvalds, who created the Linux computer operating system, was once pecked by a little penguin in Australia. This experience reportedly led him to choose Tux, a penguin, as the official Linux mascot.
Penny the Little Penguin was also the mascot for the 2007 FINA World Swimming Championships held in Melbourne, Victoria.
Images for kids
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A white-flippered penguin in the South Island.
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Traffic sign warning of little penguins crossing on the West Coast of New Zealand
See also
In Spanish: Pingüino azul para niños
