The Blue Penguin
Name: Little or Blue Penguin
Habitat: Beaches of Australia, Victoria Island and New Zealand
Type: Mammal
Consumer: Carnivore
Colour: Blue/Grey & White
Height: 41 cm (16 inches) average
Weight: Female 1kg and Males 1.2kgs (average)
Life Expectancy : 7 years (average)
Group name: There is no general name for a group of penguins, but usually a group is called a 'colony'
Maori name: Kororā
The Blue Penguin is the world’s smallest penguin at just 35-43cm tall,
and weighing a little over 1 kg. It is found in lots of places around New Zealand
and Australia and is a protected native species. The Blue Penguin population is
declining throughout New Zealand. On the West Coast it is estimated Blue
Penguins only number in the high hundreds to low thousands.
Structural Adaptations:
Salt glands:
They have special salt glands found above the eyes allowing them to remove excess salt that they consume with their food.
Strong bite:
The Blue penguin have a very strong bite, a hook on the end of their beak and have spikes on their tongues pointing towards the back of the mouth, all these features help them to hold and swallow slippery prey. Beaks for defence, small size to escape predators.
Sight:
The Blue Penguin has excellent vision both in and out of water. Penguins depend on their vision, to locate and catch their prey. A third eyelid protects the eye under water and on land is used like a windscreen wiper to clear sand from the eyes. Another interesting fact is that Penguins also have excellent night vision.
Hearing:
Their hearing is good, however it is better in water than on land. This is simply a physical property of water, it transmit sound better than air.
Foraging:
When foraging at sea the penguins dive on average 800 times a day and mostly feed in the top 10m of the water, staying under the water only 20-30 seconds at a time. They can swim up to 8km per hour and during the breeding season covering an average of 50km in a day.
Penguins Wings:
Penguins wings are made so they are more suitable for swimming than flying. Their wings are used a lot more as flippers in the water. Their wings and feet are used to help them propel through water, beaks used for defense and their small size to escape predators.
Feathers:
There are around 10,000 feathers on a blue penguin and 3-4 times the feather density of flighted birds. The feathers are particularly important for ensuring the penguins stay warm enough at sea. Predators of blue penguins at sea are sharks, sea-lions and leopard seals. So:
-The outer part of the feathers: are hard and act as a wind-breaker, the penguins use oil from a gland near their tail to waterproof the outer part of the feathers.
-The inner part of the feather: is fluffy, soft and traps a layer of insulating air.
-The dark blue feathers: on the penguins backs help to hide them when predators look down into the dark blue water.
-The white feathers: on their underside merge them with the lighter water as the predator looks up.
-Underneath the skin the penguins have a layer of fat which also helps to keep them warm.
Behavioral Adaptations:
Eating at a young age:
When the blue penguin is young they eat what their mother throws up for them, so that they don't have to go off and find their own food to eat.
Saving their energy:
You hardly ever see these Penguins in the water during the day. The only place you can see them is in their burrows or at dusk when they go for their swim, this is because they save energy and try to stay away from their predators.
Sleeping on Water:
Blue Penguins are able to sleep on water. It is actually quite useful because many of the penguins swim far into the sea. Sometimes up to 20km away from land. They will sleep on water to take a rest when they are out of energy because Blue Penguins spend most of their day hunting and then they are able to expand their hunting range.
Sleeping:
Penguins sleep for only about 4 minutes at a time. Either standing up or lying down, they will sleep during the day if they remain on land. Sleep periods at night tend to be more frequent and slightly longer than those taken during the day.
Territories:
Blue penguins can breed as a single pair or in colonies. The male digs nesting burrows up to 1.6km from shore and they make 'squawking' noises to call the female penguins. Penguins defend a small space around their burrows during the breeding season, growling to warn penguin intruders. This is followed by a loud 'kak kak kak' warning call. If the intruder continues, the resident penguin will lock beaks with the intruder and beat it with its flipper.
Physiological Adaptation:
Blubber:
Penguins keep themselves warm by using their blubber (a layer of fat underneath the skin below their feathers).
Moulting:
Adult penguins moult at the end of breeding season (usually late summer), all of the feathers are shed and replaced over a period of 2-3 weeks. During moulting season their feathers are not waterproof and the birds need to stay on land. At these times they are particularly defencless to land predators and conflict. As they can not feed during the moult they store body fat to survive the loss of up to half their body weight. After moulting many penguins leave the colony to build their weight again. It is a very stressful time as birds are unable to go to sea. Fasting, body's puff up and they get very dehydrated and grumpy.
Breeding:
Breeding seasons of Blue Penguins vary within New Zealand. Usually two eggs are laid and are incubated for 36 days. Both parents share the incubation and feeding duties. One parent guards the chicks for the first 2-3 weeks, then both parents go to sea to help keep up the supply of fish. The Blue Penguins chicks growth is quick. Within 4-5 weeks adult weigh of 1kg is gained. Chicks usually depart at 8 weeks and are independent from then on. Blue Penguins usually breed for the first time at 2-3 years of age. Blue Penguins are very honourable to their home site. Chicks will often return to a few metres within where they were raised and once settled in an area they tend to stay.
Breeding Cycle:
July - August - September:
-Penguins begin nest building & mating
-Egg laying starts
August - September - October
-Penguins incubate their eggs for 36 days
-Guarding and feeding chicks for 2-3 weeks
October - November - December
-Both parents return from sea daily to feed their chicks
-Chicks are abandoned at 5 weeks old
-By 8 weeks old the chicks are fully grown
-Chicks leave the nest and go to sea for 6 - 12 months
-Early season breeders start the process again (double brooders)
December - January - February
-2nd clutches start hatching
-Adult birds come and go from the colony, doubling their body weight in preparation for moulting
March - April
-Moulting
-Adult and juvenile birds return to nest boxes for 2 – 3 weeks
May - June
-Birds return to sea for 2 -3 weeks to regain body weight up to 1kg – 1.2kg.
-Penguins start nest building for the upcoming breeding season.
-Growth of chicks between 0.4kg to 1kg in 4-5 weeks, this is equivalent to a 2.5kg human baby growing to 75kg in 2 years.
Community and Endangered Aotearoa:
Habitat:
Blue penguins breed underground in burrows or natural holes, although they will make use of any man-made gap/whole. Near human habitation it is not uncommon to find them nesting under buildings, stacks of timber or even railway tracks. Artificial nest boxes are readily adopted.The penguins can also live and nest on burrows or cracks in rock faces.
Environment:
The Blue Penguins are only found in the Southern Hemisphere. The Blue Penguin breeds along the entire coastline of New Zealand, Beaches of Australia (including Victoria Island, the Chatham Islands Babel Island/southern Australia).
Success in the ecosystem:
The Blue Penguin has been successful in the ecosystem because it has a lot of Structural Adaptations that help the Penguin fight off Preditors if they
come into contact with them i.e. (their Strong bite, hearing, their site and also their wings that help them get away quickly). Even though they are only recorded in their high hundreds to low thousands.
Relationships With other Organisms:
The Blue Penguin has lots of relationships with other organisms, but they have a lot of preditors in the water and also out of the water.
-In publicly accessible areas, dogs have been major predators - particularly of penguins returning from the sea. At Chatham and Stewart Islands, the southern brown skua also attacks the Blue Penguins returning from the sea.
The predators that might steal the penguin’s food or may even kill the penguins in the water are:
-Sharks
-Barracudas
-Whales
And on land:
-Some humans i.e. (oil spils, nets and rubbish in the water and also cars).
-Stoats
-Weasels
-Cats
-Possums and
-Dogs
These all threaten the blue penguin as they are all preditors. So if these dont hurt the Penguins then they will most probably eat them. This means the population of the Blue Penguin would decrese as there are so many preditors in their food web and the population of the penguins arent very high any way. This is why we need to look out for the Blue Penguins and make sure that they don't become endangered or even worse extinct.
Ways Humans could:
Stop The Blue Penguin becoming endangered/extinct:
-Fishermen stop putting fishing nets out (or they could, but in places there aren't endangered species/Blue Penguins)
-Eliminate the threat/cut down the number of possums as they are a preditor and aren't protected
-Make the most of breeding seasons
-track the penguins and all of their moves.
Energy Flow:
Diet and feeding:
-Blue penguins feed on a variety of surface schooling fish, squid and crustaceans. Diving depths of 60m have been recorded, although 10-20 metres is more common. The average dive time is 24 seconds. Blue Penguins usually feed within 25km of the coast and may make daily round-trips of up to 75km. Long winter feeding trips of up to 750 km (one way) have been recorded. Blue penguins can reach speeds of up to 6km/hr. underwater.
-A penguin’s diet can range from small fish to shrimps, small crayfish, barnacles and many other small shellfish. A penguin’s beak is very tough so it can remove the barnacles from the rocky surface of the sea bed.
-The penguin’s speed is fast enough to catch small fish swimming at their top speed along with other foods they like.
-Many penguins spend days out at sea eating many of their favourite foods, so that when they return to their colony they will be able to feed their young and their mate. Their mate would have spent the last few days caring for their younger penguins as they cannot fish for their own food yet. The penguin that has been out at sea regurgitates the food for their partner and children to eat.
Food Webs:
Three food chains that involve the Blue penguin:
1. Shrimps-Blue Penguin-Sharks
2. Crayfish-Blue Penguin-Barracudas
3. Small fish-Blue Penguin-Whales
What would happen to the Blue Penguin if it wasnt part of this food web?
If The Blue penguin was removed from this Food web then the Krill, Creyfish and the small fish would increase in population, because they wouldn't have the Blue Penguin as their preditor. But then that would mean the Whales, Sharks and Barracudas wouldnt have a supply of food for themselves which would mean they would need to find another food source quickly or their population would decreace in numbers.
Food web for the Blue Penguin:
Habitat: Beaches of Australia, Victoria Island and New Zealand
Type: Mammal
Consumer: Carnivore
Colour: Blue/Grey & White
Height: 41 cm (16 inches) average
Weight: Female 1kg and Males 1.2kgs (average)
Life Expectancy : 7 years (average)
Group name: There is no general name for a group of penguins, but usually a group is called a 'colony'
Maori name: Kororā
The Blue Penguin is the world’s smallest penguin at just 35-43cm tall,
and weighing a little over 1 kg. It is found in lots of places around New Zealand
and Australia and is a protected native species. The Blue Penguin population is
declining throughout New Zealand. On the West Coast it is estimated Blue
Penguins only number in the high hundreds to low thousands.
Structural Adaptations:
Salt glands:
They have special salt glands found above the eyes allowing them to remove excess salt that they consume with their food.
Strong bite:
The Blue penguin have a very strong bite, a hook on the end of their beak and have spikes on their tongues pointing towards the back of the mouth, all these features help them to hold and swallow slippery prey. Beaks for defence, small size to escape predators.
Sight:
The Blue Penguin has excellent vision both in and out of water. Penguins depend on their vision, to locate and catch their prey. A third eyelid protects the eye under water and on land is used like a windscreen wiper to clear sand from the eyes. Another interesting fact is that Penguins also have excellent night vision.
Hearing:
Their hearing is good, however it is better in water than on land. This is simply a physical property of water, it transmit sound better than air.
Foraging:
When foraging at sea the penguins dive on average 800 times a day and mostly feed in the top 10m of the water, staying under the water only 20-30 seconds at a time. They can swim up to 8km per hour and during the breeding season covering an average of 50km in a day.
Penguins Wings:
Penguins wings are made so they are more suitable for swimming than flying. Their wings are used a lot more as flippers in the water. Their wings and feet are used to help them propel through water, beaks used for defense and their small size to escape predators.
Feathers:
There are around 10,000 feathers on a blue penguin and 3-4 times the feather density of flighted birds. The feathers are particularly important for ensuring the penguins stay warm enough at sea. Predators of blue penguins at sea are sharks, sea-lions and leopard seals. So:
-The outer part of the feathers: are hard and act as a wind-breaker, the penguins use oil from a gland near their tail to waterproof the outer part of the feathers.
-The inner part of the feather: is fluffy, soft and traps a layer of insulating air.
-The dark blue feathers: on the penguins backs help to hide them when predators look down into the dark blue water.
-The white feathers: on their underside merge them with the lighter water as the predator looks up.
-Underneath the skin the penguins have a layer of fat which also helps to keep them warm.
Behavioral Adaptations:
Eating at a young age:
When the blue penguin is young they eat what their mother throws up for them, so that they don't have to go off and find their own food to eat.
Saving their energy:
You hardly ever see these Penguins in the water during the day. The only place you can see them is in their burrows or at dusk when they go for their swim, this is because they save energy and try to stay away from their predators.
Sleeping on Water:
Blue Penguins are able to sleep on water. It is actually quite useful because many of the penguins swim far into the sea. Sometimes up to 20km away from land. They will sleep on water to take a rest when they are out of energy because Blue Penguins spend most of their day hunting and then they are able to expand their hunting range.
Sleeping:
Penguins sleep for only about 4 minutes at a time. Either standing up or lying down, they will sleep during the day if they remain on land. Sleep periods at night tend to be more frequent and slightly longer than those taken during the day.
Territories:
Blue penguins can breed as a single pair or in colonies. The male digs nesting burrows up to 1.6km from shore and they make 'squawking' noises to call the female penguins. Penguins defend a small space around their burrows during the breeding season, growling to warn penguin intruders. This is followed by a loud 'kak kak kak' warning call. If the intruder continues, the resident penguin will lock beaks with the intruder and beat it with its flipper.
Physiological Adaptation:
Blubber:
Penguins keep themselves warm by using their blubber (a layer of fat underneath the skin below their feathers).
Moulting:
Adult penguins moult at the end of breeding season (usually late summer), all of the feathers are shed and replaced over a period of 2-3 weeks. During moulting season their feathers are not waterproof and the birds need to stay on land. At these times they are particularly defencless to land predators and conflict. As they can not feed during the moult they store body fat to survive the loss of up to half their body weight. After moulting many penguins leave the colony to build their weight again. It is a very stressful time as birds are unable to go to sea. Fasting, body's puff up and they get very dehydrated and grumpy.
Breeding:
Breeding seasons of Blue Penguins vary within New Zealand. Usually two eggs are laid and are incubated for 36 days. Both parents share the incubation and feeding duties. One parent guards the chicks for the first 2-3 weeks, then both parents go to sea to help keep up the supply of fish. The Blue Penguins chicks growth is quick. Within 4-5 weeks adult weigh of 1kg is gained. Chicks usually depart at 8 weeks and are independent from then on. Blue Penguins usually breed for the first time at 2-3 years of age. Blue Penguins are very honourable to their home site. Chicks will often return to a few metres within where they were raised and once settled in an area they tend to stay.
Breeding Cycle:
July - August - September:
-Penguins begin nest building & mating
-Egg laying starts
August - September - October
-Penguins incubate their eggs for 36 days
-Guarding and feeding chicks for 2-3 weeks
October - November - December
-Both parents return from sea daily to feed their chicks
-Chicks are abandoned at 5 weeks old
-By 8 weeks old the chicks are fully grown
-Chicks leave the nest and go to sea for 6 - 12 months
-Early season breeders start the process again (double brooders)
December - January - February
-2nd clutches start hatching
-Adult birds come and go from the colony, doubling their body weight in preparation for moulting
March - April
-Moulting
-Adult and juvenile birds return to nest boxes for 2 – 3 weeks
May - June
-Birds return to sea for 2 -3 weeks to regain body weight up to 1kg – 1.2kg.
-Penguins start nest building for the upcoming breeding season.
-Growth of chicks between 0.4kg to 1kg in 4-5 weeks, this is equivalent to a 2.5kg human baby growing to 75kg in 2 years.
Community and Endangered Aotearoa:
Habitat:
Blue penguins breed underground in burrows or natural holes, although they will make use of any man-made gap/whole. Near human habitation it is not uncommon to find them nesting under buildings, stacks of timber or even railway tracks. Artificial nest boxes are readily adopted.The penguins can also live and nest on burrows or cracks in rock faces.
Environment:
The Blue Penguins are only found in the Southern Hemisphere. The Blue Penguin breeds along the entire coastline of New Zealand, Beaches of Australia (including Victoria Island, the Chatham Islands Babel Island/southern Australia).
Success in the ecosystem:
The Blue Penguin has been successful in the ecosystem because it has a lot of Structural Adaptations that help the Penguin fight off Preditors if they
come into contact with them i.e. (their Strong bite, hearing, their site and also their wings that help them get away quickly). Even though they are only recorded in their high hundreds to low thousands.
Relationships With other Organisms:
The Blue Penguin has lots of relationships with other organisms, but they have a lot of preditors in the water and also out of the water.
-In publicly accessible areas, dogs have been major predators - particularly of penguins returning from the sea. At Chatham and Stewart Islands, the southern brown skua also attacks the Blue Penguins returning from the sea.
The predators that might steal the penguin’s food or may even kill the penguins in the water are:
-Sharks
-Barracudas
-Whales
And on land:
-Some humans i.e. (oil spils, nets and rubbish in the water and also cars).
-Stoats
-Weasels
-Cats
-Possums and
-Dogs
These all threaten the blue penguin as they are all preditors. So if these dont hurt the Penguins then they will most probably eat them. This means the population of the Blue Penguin would decrese as there are so many preditors in their food web and the population of the penguins arent very high any way. This is why we need to look out for the Blue Penguins and make sure that they don't become endangered or even worse extinct.
Ways Humans could:
Stop The Blue Penguin becoming endangered/extinct:
-Fishermen stop putting fishing nets out (or they could, but in places there aren't endangered species/Blue Penguins)
-Eliminate the threat/cut down the number of possums as they are a preditor and aren't protected
-Make the most of breeding seasons
-track the penguins and all of their moves.
Energy Flow:
Diet and feeding:
-Blue penguins feed on a variety of surface schooling fish, squid and crustaceans. Diving depths of 60m have been recorded, although 10-20 metres is more common. The average dive time is 24 seconds. Blue Penguins usually feed within 25km of the coast and may make daily round-trips of up to 75km. Long winter feeding trips of up to 750 km (one way) have been recorded. Blue penguins can reach speeds of up to 6km/hr. underwater.
-A penguin’s diet can range from small fish to shrimps, small crayfish, barnacles and many other small shellfish. A penguin’s beak is very tough so it can remove the barnacles from the rocky surface of the sea bed.
-The penguin’s speed is fast enough to catch small fish swimming at their top speed along with other foods they like.
-Many penguins spend days out at sea eating many of their favourite foods, so that when they return to their colony they will be able to feed their young and their mate. Their mate would have spent the last few days caring for their younger penguins as they cannot fish for their own food yet. The penguin that has been out at sea regurgitates the food for their partner and children to eat.
Food Webs:
Three food chains that involve the Blue penguin:
1. Shrimps-Blue Penguin-Sharks
2. Crayfish-Blue Penguin-Barracudas
3. Small fish-Blue Penguin-Whales
What would happen to the Blue Penguin if it wasnt part of this food web?
If The Blue penguin was removed from this Food web then the Krill, Creyfish and the small fish would increase in population, because they wouldn't have the Blue Penguin as their preditor. But then that would mean the Whales, Sharks and Barracudas wouldnt have a supply of food for themselves which would mean they would need to find another food source quickly or their population would decreace in numbers.
Food web for the Blue Penguin:
Thanks to the following websites for their borrowed images:
commons.wikimedia.org
nothingbutpenguins.com
toughpenguin.com
commons.wikimedia.org
nothingbutpenguins.com
toughpenguin.com