Watchful
eye: Mother penguin keeps her eye on the tiny egg which is the first of
its kind at Billabong Zoo Koala and Wildlife Park.
MAMMA
penguin tentatively pokes her head through the artificial burrow into
the area where she has prepared a nest from the grass in her enclosure
at Billabong Zoo Koala and Wildlife Park. There
she ensures her egg is safe before venturing outside for a bit of
sustenance. This will be her routine for the 35 days it will take for
her baby to hatch.
Head keeper at the zoo, Christy Brown, said the mother penguin will spend most of her time sitting on the egg. "It's
really exciting for all at Billabong as this is the first egg produced
by the little penguins," she said. Commonly called fairy penguins the
two pairs of little penguins were just a couple of months old when they
arrived at the zoo in December, 2012. "They
usually don't breed until age three in the wild but in captivity they
can start earlier," Ms Brown said. "The breeding season is June to
October so it is very early for them to have produced an egg."
Although
numbers of the little penguins are secure Ms Brown said the zoo's
breeding program is important for education purposes and the mainland
population of the little penguins is threatened. "There is only one NSW breeding site near Manly and the biggest threat is litter in our ocean."
On the nesting islands offshore they can be under threat from feral dogs and foxes because they can't protect themselves. "They
only weigh about 1 kilogram so it is important we educate school
children and their families about the danger to the penguins from
rubbish thrown into the ocean."
Unfortunately
the public is unable to see this miracle of nature as the staff will
take care to disturb mum and her egg as little as possible to avoid her
rejecting it or the egg being damaged.
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