Fairy+Penguin+2011

Fairy PenguinTaylor and Sofia ** ﻿﻿ **

**Characteristics:** The Little Blue penguin is about 30 cm. tall and weighs about 1.5 kg.Their flipper length is 11-14 cm. Their average lifespan is 5.6 years. Beak color is gray-black beak and length is 3-4 cm. Little blue penguin's feet are pink with black soles. Population is 500,000 Fairy penguins.

**Habitat:** They live in rocks, caves or crevices for the nests.They are found in New Zealand and Australia.



**Food:** They hunt for small fish, squid and crustaceans in the shallow water.When they are done eating they go back to shore to go to sleep before dawn each morning.

 

**Predators:** The Little Blue penguins natural predadors are sea lions, killer whales, sea eagles and sea gulls. Their other predators are foxes, dogs, cats, ferrets and stoats.

**Babies:** The Little Blue Penguins lays 2 eggs at a time. It takes 5 weeks for the eggs to hatch.The eggs are laid from May to February.

**Other Interesting Facts:** Fairy penguins are the smallest penguin. They are nocturnals unlike other penguins. Since they feed so close to the shore they are easy to see from land.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Future:** <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">As long as we keep our seas free from oil then they would live longer. Mammals introduced by man may kill many Fairy penguins.The things that kill them are plastic, road kills, gill net fishing and loss of breeding habits.

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