Surface nesting by little penguins on Penguin Island, Western Australia

Visual contact may be a key component of little penguin fear of visitors.

“Although the effects of visual contact were not specifically examined in these studies, it can be surmised that visual contact may be a key component to little penguin fear of visitors.”

Wild little penguins increase their avoidance of areas with high human traffic and footpaths when nesting.

“with Klomp and colleagues [37] and Weerheim and colleagues [34] who found wild little penguins increased their avoidance of areas with high human traffic and footpaths when nesting.”

Wild little penguins prefer to nest further away from visitor paths or areas of high human disturbance.

“Wild little penguins also prefer to nest further away from visitor paths or areas of high human disturbance [39,40].”

Little penguins found at different locations may respond to visitors in a similar manner if the nature of visitor contact is the same.

“Also, this research adds to the growing evidence that little penguins, found at different locations, may respond to visitors in a similar manner if the nature of visitor contact is the same (Klomp et al. 1991;Weerheim et al. 2003;Giling et al. 2008;Carroll et al. 2016).”

Characteristics of human contact are consistent with studies on other species of zoo-housed penguins and wild penguins.

“These characteristics of human contact are also consistent with studies on other species of zoo-housed penguins and wild penguins (Klomp et al. 1991;Wienecke et al. 1995;Nimon 1997;Giese 1998;Weerheim et al. 2003;Holmes et al. 2005;Giling et al. 2008;Shaughnessy and Briggs 2009;Schuster 2010;Ozella et al. 2014).”