Fairy Penguin at Adelaide Zoo photo by Tanya Dropbear

Until I ran across this story, I had never heard of Fairy Penguins.  They are very small and they are blue.  Before you say its because they are cold, please understand the colony I am talking about lives on an Australian island.  It may be cold, but I’m sure the temperatures wouldn’t compare to what the Emperor Penguins withstand.  Anyway, the joke is cute, even though lots of people say it.

I have always been an advocate of using what you have to make the environment you are in better.  For instance, when I lived in California a company was started that rented goats.  Yes goats, they were used for clearance of brush on hillsides in fire areas and they did the job well while not adding to the gasoline and diesel fumes already polluting the Southern California coast.  It is a perfect example of using what you have to improve things and using nature to help nature.

Now there is another perfect example of this philosophy.  A few weeks ago I told you about the Maremma Sheepdog.  This beautiful breed of dogs is used to protect flocks of goats and sheep and more recently cattle.  They are taken as puppies to live with the flock and grow up to think of the same flock as their pack so they protect them.  This is a great dog with high intelligence and they are loyal to their death.

Now that brings us to the Fairy Penguin as they are called in Australia because of their small size which is about 16 inches tall.  In New Zealand, where they are also found, they are called Little Blue Penguins or just Blue Penguins because of their slate blue plumage.

The Fairy Penguins in Australia were declining at an alarming rate due to their small size and their inability to fight off predators like foxes in their environment.  This diminutive little bird was staring extinction right in the face and would have been gone in very short order.

Now enter the Maremma Sheepdog.  Maremma puppies were brought to the island where the Fairy Penguins live .  They were introduced to the little blue guys and grew up considering the small penguins as their pack.  So naturally, foxes or any other predator wasn’t going to get near the penguins without going through the huge sheepdogs first.

Fairy Penguins have started to again raise their numbers and the sheepdogs are happy as clams with their well protected feathered family.  Now that is using something you have to make things better.  Big dogs that rescue endangered penguins, what a great story!  You can read more about it here.

Valentino the Maremma