Little Penguins make big splash at National Aquarium

New Zealand's National Aquarium has opened its latest exhibit, Penguin Cove, with its new residents settling into their new life-like surroundings having relocated from the nearby Hawke's Bay Marineland.
Designed to replicate the Little Penguins' natural beach habitat, Penguin Cove features a sandy beach, made up of 28 tonnes of golden sand donated by Winstone Aggregates, along with driftwood, rocks and a swimming pool with underwater viewing.
Within, the 10 penguins to go about their normal routine of fishing and feeding during the day, then returning to the beach for play and sleep at night.
National Aquarium of New Zealand Manager Rob Yarrall explains that the exhibit will feature "talks by our penguin keepers three times a day, including a feeding time. This will be a chance for our staff to share information about how close Little Penguins live to us and how we can all help with their declining numbers by doing a few simple things."
The Aquarium will be working closely with the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) to share these messages, such as encouraging dog owners to keep their pets on leads at the beach and to contact DOC if members of the public ever find a Little Penguin that they are concerned about.
Yarrall adds "our Little Penguins will be great ambassadors for their species in the wild. People can come and look at them and get to know all about them."
Eventually Penguin Cove could happily house up to as many as 20 penguins, double the current number.
Napier Mayor Barbara Arnott says it's great to have this new exhibit ready for locals and visitors to enjoy this summer and in years to come, stating "it's such a positive addition to the Aquarium, not only enhancing the visitor experience, but also adding to the vision of creating a Kids' Capital along Marine Parade."

http://www.nationalaquarium.co.nz