Penguin Awareness Day

January 21 is Penguin Awareness Day. These are my photographs of Australian Fairy Penguins.

Fairy Penguins (Eudyptula minor) are the smallest of the penguins and are found in southern parts of Australia and in New Zealand. They have slightly blue coloured feathers on their upper body with white feathers on their underbelly. They have dark beaks, which are 3 centimetres long (1.2 inches), and pink feet with black soles.

They weigh around 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) and grow to about 30 centimetres (12 inches). Their life expectancy is around 6-7 years.

They can hold their breath underwater for up to 60 seconds. When they go to their burrows in the evening, they wait for each other and walk in a line, like a parade, for security.

They are carnivorous and love fish, squid, and anchovies.

MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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