Diet

Little penguins hunt at sea and are superbly adapted to cope with the marine environment. Their diet varies with season and location but usually consists of small schooling fish and squid in surface waters.

Little Penguins have a diverse diet and different colonies have different preferences, depending on what is available locally. Popular menu items include:

• pilchards
• anchovy
• squid
• small schooling fish
• krill
• seaweed

The daily forage range of an adult bird is between 10-30km and they head out to sea a couple of hours before sunrise each day.

In captivity when they are not exercising Little Penguins eat 150g per day. At sea, they would probably eat up to 500g daily.

While they are able to dive to depths of up to 30m, they generally forage in relatively shallow water and dive less than 10m.

Little Penguins can hold their breath for approximately 55 seconds and reach average speeds of 2-4 km/h.

Little Penguins have a diverse diet and different colonies have different preferences, depending on what is available locally.