Fairy Penguins on Parade: The Greatest Show on Surf

Phillip Island. Home to jaw-dropping coastlines, pastoral fields, rolling hills, and an astounding amount of wildlife. Echidnas, cape barren geese, possums, patamelons, fur seals, eastern barred bandicoots, and the smallest penguins on the planet. I can't believe what I'm seeing. They're so tiny. These are the waddling wonders. The commuters in the world's cutest rush hour. The tiny penguins that burrow. The little penguins. Hi, I'm Danielle Dufault, and you're watching Animalogic. You see those penguins behind me? This is the procession of the little penguin here on Phillip Island. Also known as fairy penguins or blue penguins, the little penguins are aptly named as they are the smallest species of penguin in the world. While their larger Antarctic relatives can tower in at over a metre, the little penguins only ever reach about 33 centimetres tall. A bit longer than an American football. Again, unlike their cold-weather cousins, little penguins can only be found along the shores of southern Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, preferring the more temperate climates to the sub-zero freeze. The reason for their limited stature is precisely because of their locale. As a general rule, the farther south you go, the fatter the penguins get. This is because they need a lot of fat to insulate themselves from the harsh colds, but further north, where it's much warmer, the penguins are free to lay off the sardines. In this more balmy climate, little penguins are able to dig and live in burrows dotting the hillsides along the shore. So this cliff behind me, leading down to the ocean, is completely lined with little penguin burrows. Even the grasslands around here are pockmarked with these little dens that are actually supported and reinforced by the low-lying shrubs and bushes and their root systems. It helps keep them sturdy and prevents them from collapsing. They form these really interesting relationships with the vegetation around here because by pooping in their dens, they're actually providing fertilizer for the plants that are growing around it and solidifying their little dens. If you look closely, you might be able to spot a little penguin in its burrow during the day. But these penguins are night owls. In fact, little penguins are the only truly nocturnal penguin on land. So every night, the little penguins haul themselves out of the ocean and walk up to two kilometers to get home. It's quite a sight to behold. So I've been waiting patiently and rather eagerly to experience something very, very special here on Phillip Island. Here is the biggest colony of little penguins. We've been waiting for them to make their great exodus from the ocean and back up onto land at night. They've been out hunting for fish and gorging their bellies all day and they're just starting to come out. I gotta show you this. The little penguins spend most of their lives at sea and tonight, many are returning to land in order to molt. This is the most dangerous time for a little penguin. At sea, their blue feathers camouflage them from predators from above, like eagles, and their white underbellies camouflage them from predators from below, like fur seals. But when they come to shore, they are highly vulnerable. And so, they wait until they have the cover of darkness and then they make their way in big groups. They form what's called rafts out in the surf, just on the edge of the beach. Once they've all congregated and it's gotten just dark enough, they'll start moving on onto land in these little groups. They let the tide carry them in. The first to arrive will hang around and wait for the rest of the group before marching up the beach. This group of four decides to make a break for it. The ocean bowls them over like pins in an alley. But they recover and complete their mad dash across the beach. This penguin has decided to go the trek alone. A dangerous move, but he seems rather pleased with himself. Another two penguins show up. Not as courageous as their friend, they wait for backup. Finally, enough of their friends have arrived that these two early birds feel safe enough to make a break for it. With an eagle in the area, they must remain vigilant. Though perhaps not enough, as the ocean knocks a few of them down. They pick up speed, racing for the cover of the rocks where their slick, dark blue feathers will help them blend in once again. Oh, they're starting to run. Oh, there they go. Home's calling. Better get home. A bigger group has arrived. But it's not long before they too are knocked back by a powerful wave. They shake it off and begin to cautiously waddle up the beach. They keep low to the ground, in part to avoid detection, but also because of their biology. Their knees are fused, so when they walk, all they have to do is lean forward. This helps them save energy. They don't need to expend effort bending muscles in their knees back and forth. They just fall forward, left and right, onto their stilt-like legs and are carried up the beach. But one of the penguins has gotten separated from the group. And with a white-bellied sea eagle circling above, he had better make it to the rocks. Exhausted as he reaches cover, this youngster can only muster the energy to throw himself from rock to rock. He's recouped enough energy and makes it back to his friends, safe from the clutches of the eagle, for another night. Part of the reason they're so… hefty is that this is the time of year they molt. Spending 80% of their lives at sea, little penguins have highly effective feathers. They are waterproof and highly dense, with about 12 feathers per square centimeter and around 10,000 total. They interlock and trap little bubbles that keep the penguin warm and buoyant. But they're not good forever, and once a year, the little penguins will replace all of their feathers in what's called a molt. This process takes between two and three weeks. When they're on land and they're molting their feathers, they lose their waterproof coat, so they can't go out and swim and catch their fish. And so, in preparation for a few weeks without a meal, they have to put on a lot of weight. They will feast as much as they can in order to become 250% of their original weight. So they go from one kilogram to two and a half kilograms. Can you imagine that? Like, I don't think that's physically possible for us. But, oh wow, some of these are some pretty gigantic waddlers. This is no march of the penguins. This is the waddle of the penguins. Since they're so much fatter than they're used to, when they're on their waddle home, they'll often take a few steps and then flop down on their bellies to rest a bit. This is me trying to come home after all you can eat sushi. I can relate to this. This is the largest colony of little penguins in the world, with 30,000 calling Phillip Island home. They don't all come home every night, but on a busy night, as many as 2,000 will return over the course of a couple hours. Once they've made it to shore, they head for their burrows. These burrows are their family homes and often are passed down through the generations. The males are the main excavators, but all little penguins come equipped with sharp claws on their feet to help them dig. Little penguins breed once a year and don't mate for life, though they will stick with their partner until the chicks are ready to go out on their own. If they're successful in having kids, there's about an 80% chance that they'll mate again the following year. The little penguin lays two eggs per clutch. They're also the only species of penguin known to be able to lay more than one clutch, up to six if the conditions are right. The eggs hatch after 35 days, and the parents take turns caring for the chicks for four weeks before they're old enough to be left alone while both parents go out to forage. Adult little penguins are built for a life at sea. To see underwater, they have a nictitating membrane. This is a semi-translucent eyelid, which protects their eyes but allows them to open them when they're diving. On the hunt for fish, squid, and jellies, they can dive over a thousand times a day. Every day, they need to eat a quarter of their body weight in order to survive, and then they head back to shore to feed their chicks. Little penguin colonies are massive, and when everyone's in a tux, it can be hard to find your family. In order to locate their burros, they listen for their partner's specific call. Thousands of penguins calling for one another makes it a very loud family reunion. They're currently being pretty quiet, but from what I understand, this species can make up to 12 different kinds of vocalizations, whereas most birds on average about six different types of sounds. I think we're starting to hear a couple of different croaks and clucks and squawks. Penguins are predated upon by fur seals, eagles, snakes, and goannas, but they've increasingly faced threats from invasive species like foxes, feral cats, and of course, humans. Thankfully, Phillip Island here in Victoria has been turned into a massive penguin sanctuary, and the population of foxes and feral cats on the island have largely been eradicated, along with domestic dogs being banned from the island. And now, with new technologies, researchers are able to track the little penguin's movement, and track their success in breeding, in order to better understand the lives and livelihoods of the cutest little penguins in the world. What should I talk about next? Please let me know in the comments, and be sure to subscribe for new episodes of Animalogic every week. Thanks for watching! Oh my god, here they come! They're running towards me! They're flocking this way! I'm sorry, I had to make a Jurassic Park reference.