Names For The Fairy Penguin example essay topic
337 words
The scientific name for the Fairy Penguin is Eudyptula Minor. Eudyptula means "good little diver". Some other names for the Fairy Penguin are; "Northern Blue Penguin,"Southern Blue Penguin", and "Little Blue Penguin". The name "Blue" refers to the bluish color in the wings. The Fairy Penguin is the smallest kind of penguin in the world. It can reach up to 15-16 inches long (or 41 cm. ). That is almost as long as two new pencils! They can weigh 2.2 pounds or one kilogram. Fairy Penguins eat fish, squid, and krill.
They go fishing during the day, swimming far out into the ocean for food. Fairy Penguins can be found along the southern coast of Australia and New Zealand. Like some other penguins, they dig burrows as there nests. There burrows are at least two meters apart and usually of 60-80 cm tunnel with a "nest bowl" at the end.
Other nests may vary from a few scrapes beneath a clump of tussock, to elaborate connecting tunnels of a home among costal rocks. Each evening, at dusk, they scamper to their burrows, on shore. Unlike other penguins, they can breed throughout the year. Subspecies of the Fairy Penguin are found in New Zealand. Vary little is known about their population, however estimates are 110,000 to 190,000 breeding couples. Increasing human pressure will cause them to become extinct.
Most Fairy Penguins live only for six years. But in one case, an age of twenty-one years was recorded. Seasonal changes in their natural food supply cause many young penguins to be washed onto Australia's shores, dead in weak conditions. Thoughtless activities create more problems for penguins. Some are drowned when amateur fisherman unknowingly set gill nets near a penguin colony. Oil spills are disastrous to penguins and other birds.
Not only is oil toxic, when ingested it also damages their buoyancy and insulation.
