Little Penguins

Mr Black is the little penguin colony’s silverback and hatched in 2008. Dubbed by the team as the cheeky playboy of the raft, he has had multiple girlfriends, but since pairing up with Gherkin in 2018, Mr Black has tamed his flirty ways. Little penguins are monogamous and often stay with the same partner during breeding. These couples are known as breeding pairs. Mr Black has a proud air about him and is usually the last to arrive at the feeding bucket. He's his own penguin, moving at his own pace

Spinner hatched in September 2015. Our keeper Libby in her many years of working with penguins has never met a bird who is as inquisitive and people-orientated as Spinner. One of the first to be on the scene to investigate anything new in the colony, Spinner loves to chat to penguins and people alike, and make sure he is across all and everything that is happening.

Hatched in 2011, Raptor is a super-mum! When it comes to all things babies, Raptor is there! She is a highly devoted and caring mother, unlike her cheeky partner Giaffy!

In the wild, Little Penguins have many natural predators, including seals and sharks in the water to reptiles and birds on land. Unfortunately, there are now increased threats to the survival of this protected species from domestic and feral animals (such as cats and foxes), to urban sprawl, which reduces the size of their natural habitat and then overfishing, which reduces the penguins’ food stocks.

IUCN Red List Conservation status: Least concern