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Video length: 3 min
Australia: Phillip Island is home to the largest colony of pygmy penguins in the world
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On a small island near Melbourne in Australia, Phillip Island, lives the largest colony of pygmy penguins in the world. A team of biologists saved the species from going extinct in the 1980s.
When night falls on Phillip Island, an island in the south of Australia, a parade of pygmy penguins begins on the wide sandy beaches. There are several thousand of this species, which has its largest colony in the world on the island, leaving the sea to return to their nest every evening. “They are adorable. Seeing them come out of the ocean like that is special.”confides a spectator.
New threat: global warming
A team of biologists built refuges, small nests and hunted foxes, their main predators, to preserve the seabird species, which was at risk of extinction in the 1980s. The team continues today to study penguins to better protect them. Biologist Paula Wasiak inspects their nests twice a month. The threats that now weigh on penguins are no longer foxes but the warming of the oceans and the increase in storms.
