Penguin Parade

As I said yesterday, I will write about the penguin parade on Phillip Island.  The penguins that were in the parade were called "Little Penguins" because they are a foot tall and weigh only one kilogram. They are the smallest of 17 breeds of penguins in the world.  The biologists (called Rangers) who worked at the preserve, were able to judge the time that they would come out of the water--about 6:15 P.M.  This estimate is based on the sunset time and the weather.  The penguins prefer to come out if the water when it is dark to avoid birds of prey.

The penguins were supposed to come out 5 minutes earlier, but they were scared of the wallaby that was munching on seagrass.  Once it went away, the penguins started appearing in the waves, and on the beach.  (The predator birds have gone to sleep by then.)  They were very cute as they waddled out of the sea and onto land.  Some of them were really chubby and weighed almost 3 kilos.

 During molting season, Little Penguins need to stay 17-18 days on land because they need to regrow feathers.  They need to stay on land as they regrow their feathers because they could get hypothermia in the water without fully grown feathers.  They came out of the water in groups, which tells me that they are social animals.  According to our guide, some of them had to walk over 1.5 miles to get to their nests for the night.  Surprisingly, we found that they have to wake up 2 hours before dawn to go back into the water before their predators wake up.  I really enjoyed yesterday a ton.  Penguins are my favorite animals because I like the way the look and the way they waddle.