Standing 16 inches in height and weighing three pounds, this is the smallest penguin species. It is estimated that over a million live in Southern Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, sometimes not far from large cities. “Penguin parades”, where they march across the beach from the surf to their burrows in the sand, are popular tourist attractions. Several Fairy or Blue penguins have been hatched at the DWA, where they have been kept since 2002.
Living on both coasts of South Africa, as well as Namibia, this engaging bird was encountered by Vasco da Gama and his crew, as they rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1497, becoming the first penguin known to Europeans. Also known as the African or Jackass penguin, this is the first penguin bred in zoos, in London in 1907, as well the first in the US, at the Bronx Zoo in 1915. Almost all of the more than 2,000 kept world-wide are captive-bred; more than 700 live in North America. With only 50,000 in the wild, this is an important resource.
© 2024 The Dallas World Aquarium.
