Welcome to the Marine Mili series, a regular column about all things marine!  During this series I aim to inspire people to want to protect our oceans and all the marine life that call our oceans home. Hopefully after reading each column, you would have learnt something new, including what we can do to help protect and preserve our oceans. You can follow me and my journey on my Instagram page: _marine_mili. 

Did you know that Phillip Island is home to over 40,000 little penguins? 

Isn’t it interesting that of all 18 penguin species little penguins are the smallest, measuring just 30 cm tall! 

Little penguins, little blue penguins or fairy penguins, whatever you may call them, have the scientific name “Eudyptula minor” with Eudyptula meaning good little diver.

Little penguins get lots of practice diving hundreds of times per day in their constant search for food.

Little penguins are flightless marine birds that have over 10,000 feathers and three to four times the feather density of a bird that can fly. It is said that over 65 million years ago penguins traded in their wings for flippers.

Little penguins are born with soft fluffy feathers and by the time they are two-three weeks old they have thick and fluffy chocolate brown coats.

At this stage their feathers are not waterproof and therefore they cannot enter the water.

By the time they are eight weeks old all their waterproof feathers have developed into a dark blue coat, making them the only species with blue feathers!

Little penguins also have a cool adaptation called counter shading.

They have white feathers on their bellies and dark blue feathers on their back. This makes them less visible to predators and lets them blend into their surroundings when searching for food in the ocean.

Despite their ability to blend in their environment, little penguins are anxious little birds.

Each night when they come back to the shore after scavenging in the ocean all day for food, they wait for other members of their colony before waddling on land.

After dark when they are less visible to predators, these tiny penguins make the final trek to their burrows in the safety of large numbers.

You can even watch these little penguins exit the water and waddle up to their burrows with cuteness radiating from them each night. Visit the Penguin Parade to find out more!

Adopt or donate to help protect little penguins and other wildlife of Millowl at www.penguinfoundation.org.au