Source: Guardians
As of May 2022, more than 500 little penguins (Small Eudyptula), the smallest penguins in the world, have washed up on the north coast of New Zealand. More than 180 dead birds were found on Ninety Mile Beach near Kaitaia last week, the same week more than 100 were found dead in nearby Cable Bay. Although the cause of death has not been determined, experts have noted that most of the dead birds were severely underweight – some were less than half the roughly 2-pound weight they should have weighed. Some scientists think climate change is playing a role.
“There is no body fat on them; there’s barely any muscle exposed,” says New Zealand Department of Conservation’s seabird scientist Graeme Taylor Guardians. “When they get to that emaciated stage, they can’t dive.” The birds eventually die from starvation or hypothermia due to lack of protection.
While overfishing could explain an inadequate diet for the penguins’ malnutrition, Taylor believes that rising sea surface temperatures are due to climate change. human-induced climate change, which can force fish into deeper, cooler waters — too deep for small penguins, which can dive no more than 100 feet. Taylor’s theory is supported by the relatively good health of small penguins in the south of the country, whose surface waters are still considerably cooler than farther north.
Although death of this species is observed to occur, it usually happens once in 10 years and there have been three times in the past decade when large numbers of small penguins have died. Known locally as kororā, the small penguins are listed “at risk of decline” by the Kiwi government. According to Bird Life International, no more than 500,000 breeding adults exist in the wild.
