Fairy Penguins By: Cindy Nguyen ☺
What are fairy penguins? Fairy Penguins are the smallest species of penguins, they only grow about 45cm and about weigh 1 kg. They have a blue back and their upper body is also blue, the belly part of the penguin is white and the beck is grey. Fairy penguins are found in the costal areas of Australia and New Zealand. Fairy penguins only live upto 7 years to 7 ½ years. They are the only penguins that breed in Australia. ☺
Further classification Fairy penguins belong to the: Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class : Aves Order : Sphenisciformes Family : Spheniscidae Genus : Eudyptula minor ☺
Habitat Fairy penguins are usually found in the costal areas of Australia that are closes to Antarctica. Fairy penguins inhabit on rocky shorelines, and mainland sites near or in urbainsed areas. They go in colonies in order to find a place to live, the colony will decide where to settle by many factors such as how many prey and predator there is in the area. ☺
Adaptation Physical Fairy penguins spend most of their time in water, this can be very difficult to stay warm. This is why they have ten thousand feathers, (about 4 times a bird would have) this helps the penguin to be suitable to the sea life. The penguin also produces oil, as oil is repel to water this makes the outer coat of the penguin almost very waterproof. ☺
Behavioral Fairy Penguins are able to sleep for a short period while at sea, by floating on the surface of the water. Being able to sleep at sea allows Penguins to rest without having to swim back to land. The penguins can also travel a longer distances away from the land, swimming further away from the land means that the Penguin can have more source of food. Fairy Penguins spends all day at sea to hunt this is because it gives a higher level of adaptation. ☺
Thank you for listening to my presentation☺☺☺☺☻☻☻☻
Bibliography http://www.theanimalfiles.com/birds/penguins/little_penguin.html http://www.graniteisland.com.au/pdf/parks_pdfs_little_penguins.pdf http://www.penguinworld.com/types/little.html http://designeranimals.wikispaces.com/Little+Penguin Books Stahel, Colin, Rosemary Gales, and Jane Burrell. Little Penguin: Fairy Penguins in Australia. Kensington, NSW: NSWU, 1987. Print.