Conservation officials believe mass die-offs are becoming more frequent as climate crisis disrupts food chains.
The penguins lie in orderly, evenly spaced rows, wings splayed, their trademark glossy blue plumage dulled by sand. There are 183 in all, carefully collected by local people, laid out and photographed for later investigation. The birds were found at Ninety Mile Beach last week, just the latest in a phenomenon of dead penguins washing up on New Zealand’s beaches in huge numbers.
The kororā, also known as little blue penguins, are the world’s smallest penguin, and are native to New Zealand. They have been a common sight on northern coastlines, seen hopping up the dunes at dusk with their characteristic, slightly stooped waddle, however the Department of Conservation (DoC) classes their population as “at-risk, declining”.
Their deaths have shocked and bewildered locals, who in recent months have found hundreds washed ashore and decaying on the beaches in the North Island. The 183 at Ninety Mile Beach came the same week that more than 100 were found dumped and decaying at the nearby Cable Bay. Local residents photographed another dead flock of 109 at Ninety Mile Beach the close of May, a resident found 40 at Tokerau Beach, also in the Northland region, in mid-May. The DoC has other reports of at least 20 dying on the same beach at the start of the month.
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The penguins lie in orderly, evenly spaced rows, wings splayed, their trademark glossy blue plumage dulled by sand. There are 183 in all, carefully collected by local people, laid out and photographed for later investigation. The birds were found at Ninety Mile Beach last week, just the latest in a phenomenon of dead penguins washing up on New Zealand’s beaches in huge numbers.
The kororā, also known as little blue penguins, are the world’s smallest penguin, and are native to New Zealand. They have been a common sight on northern coastlines, seen hopping up the dunes at dusk with their characteristic, slightly stooped waddle, however the Department of Conservation (DoC) classes their population as “at-risk, declining”.
Their deaths have shocked and bewildered locals, who in recent months have found hundreds washed ashore and decaying on the beaches in the North Island. The 183 at Ninety Mile Beach came the same week that more than 100 were found dumped and decaying at the nearby Cable Bay. Local residents photographed another dead flock of 109 at Ninety Mile Beach the close of May, a resident found 40 at Tokerau Beach, also in the Northland region, in mid-May. The DoC has other reports of at least 20 dying on the same beach at the start of the month.
https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.amp...ttle-blue-penguins-wash-ashore-in-new-zealand