One time, I was walking along the rocky shore of a beach and suddenly a penguin popped out from behind a rock. We were both startled! I crouched down and slowly moved backwards so that I wouldn’t scare the penguin anymore than I already had. The penguin stood still, looked at me, tilted his head, and then waddled away into the bushes. Everytime I meet a penguin, I am in awe of their curiosity and amazing capabilities.
Little penguins live here in Tasmania, southern Australia, and New Zealand. They come to land most nights to sleep in their nest and to feed their chicks, but most of their lives are spent out at sea. Sometimes penguins will go to see for days at a tim. They can take quick five-second naps throughout the night so they don’t need to sleep, and their feathers give them all the protection they need. Penguins love the icy cold waters around Tasmania that are teeming with all their favorite snacks: fish, squid, and crustaceans!
Little penguins are a very important part of their ecosystem. When penguins hunt for fish, they swim along the surface of the water and dive down to catch them in their beaks. At the same time, other predators hunt the fish from below the penguins. Big fish, dolphins, and even whales come up from the depths of the sea to hunt fish at the surface. As the penguins scare the fish to swim deeper into the sea, the other ocean predators scare the fish to swim to the surface. All of these predators need to work together to get the fish in just the right spot so everyone can have a tasty fish dinner!
Little penguins also make the most of their terrestrial, or land, environment.
