First time I've heard the called Little Penguins. Why did they change the name, fairy penguins, to little penguins?
Managers at Sea World, a major Australian marine park, renamed their Fairy Penguins to the more Americanised "Little Penguin", saying "we just didn't want to upset the gαy community. The new name is more politically correct."http://www.penguins.cl/little-penguins.htmLittle (Blue or Fairy) PenguinEudyptula minor
Breeding Range: Australia and New Zealand
Length: 43cm.
World Population: c. 500,000 breeding pairsLittle Penguins breed across southern Australia and the islands of New Zealand, and it is estimated that their world breeding population is approximately 350-600,000 birds. The species is not endangered but some populations are threatened. Introduced mammalian predators appear to be the most significant threat with foxes, dogs and possibly ferrets and stoats (in New Zealand), being implicated in a number of colony extinctions and declines.
Little (or Fairy or Blue) Penguins breed throughout southern Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, their breeding distribution extends from the Shoalwater Island Group (Penguin and Carnac Islands), near Perth in Western Australia, across the southern coast (including Bass Strait and Tasmania), and up the east coast as far as South Solitary Island in New South Wales (near Coffs Harbour) [Blakers, Davies and Reilly 1984, Marchant and Higgins 1990]. In New Zealand, Little Penguins are found around the coasts of the North, South, Stewart and Chatham Islands (Marchant and Higgins 1990, Dann 1994).
The world breeding population is thought to be between 350-600,000 birds, comprising 300-500 000 in Australia (Ross et al.1995) and c.50-100 000 in New Zealand (estimated from Robertson and Bell 1984). These figures are undoubtedly underestimates as new colonies are still being found. Bass Strait, with c. 60% of the known breeding population, is the stronghold for the species in Australia. While the species is not endangered, some populations are threatened and penguins no longer breed at some previously occupied sites. In addition, the size of some breeding colonies has been diminished since European settlement in both Australia and New Zealand (Dann 1992, 1994). Conversely, several new colonies have become established in the recent past, for example at St. Kilda in Victoria, where approximately 200 birds now breed on a breakwater constructed for the 1956 Olympic Games (M.Cullen, unpublished obs.).
Most Little Penguins do not breed until they are two or three years old and, until they are mature, are not included in estimates of breeding populations. However, it has been calculated by Dann and Cullen (1990) that these pre-breeding individuals constitute 57% of the population on Phillip Island and if these young birds are included, the total world population is more than double the estimated breeding population.
Little Penguins usually breed on offshore islands or, less commonly, along parts of the mainland coast that are inaccessible to mammalian predators. Most breeding sites are adjacent to the sea, with burrows in sand or soil or under vegetation, but in some areas the birds nest in caves or crevices in rock falls. A few sites are in urban areas and some are on anthropogenic structures such as breakwaters. The type and structure of vegetation in the breeding areas varies from sparsely-vegetated caves and rock screes through grass-, herb- and scrublands, to woodland and forest (Marchant and Higgins 1990, Dann 1994, Fortescue 1995).
Introduced mammalian predators appear to be the most significant threat to penguins on land with foxes, dogs and possibly ferrets and stoats (in New Zealand), being implicated in a number of colony extinctions and declines. The role of cats in determining the distribution and abundance of penguins varies, being apparently unimportant on Phillip Island (Dann 1992) but possibly significant on Wedge Island in Tasmania (Stahel and Gales 1987). There is no published evidence to suggest that introduced rats kill adult or young penguins or reduce hatching success.
Penguins are killed by cars at a number of places where they cross coastal roads at night to reach their burrows; notably Phillip Island and Portland in Victoria, Bruny Island and Lillico Beach in Tasmania, and Oamaru and Wellington in New Zealand. The effects on the population sizes at each site vary and in some cases road mortality has clearly contributed to declines in breeding numbers.
Deliberately lit fires are believed to have caused declines in numbers of penguins breeding on De Witt Island in south-west Tasmania between 1975 and 1977 (White 1980). Fortunately the practice of burning of Bass Strait Islands seems to becoming less common, but it is likely to have contributed to declines in numbers at many sites in the past. Penguins being taken for crayfish bait are thought to have reduced ‘alarmingly’ the population of De Witt Island during the 1950s and 60s (White 1980). Although this practice may have once been widespread, it now appears rare.Diseases are of limited importance in penguin populations in Victoria (Harrigan 1988, 1992) and there is no indication that they may be significant elsewhere or that anthropogenic sources are contributing to their incidence.
For birds frequenting most areas, relatively little is known of their foraging areas at sea, either during the breeding season, when they return daily, or every few days to the breeding colony, but may still range more than 100 km from their burrows. Outside the breeding season they can travel farther but existing evidence from radio-tracking suggests they remain within 20 km of the coast (Weavers 1992, Collins, Cullen and Dann 1994).
Topic: Penguins Cross Beach At Phillip Island, Australia (Read 1035 times)