An overview

Little penguins (Eudyptula minor) are the smallest of all penguin species. They stand approximiately 33cm tall and weigh around one kilogram, with males weighing slightly more than females. Little penguins breed in colonies along the southern coastlines of Australia and New Zealand, with Phillip Island in Victoria home to an estimated 32,000 breeding adults.



Little penguins spend 80% of their lives at sea swimming and foraging for food, and return to their nesting burrows on Phillip Island to breed, raise chicks, moult and to take a break after days or weeks spent at sea. It is when little penguins return to land, at sunset each day, that visitors to Phillip Island Nature Parks' Penguin Parade are lucky enough to spot them tumbling from the waves, waddling across the beach and into their colony along the coastline.



Human impacts such as introduced predators, over exploitation of marine ecosystems, oil spills, marine pollution and climate change can threaten little penguins and their ecosystems. The more we know about little penguins, the more we can do to protect them.