Why did the penguin cross the road? 'Cos he had a brand new underpass.
Sometimes, you just need your own personal right of way.
The small blue penguins that live in Oamaru, New Zealand, have a new method for crossing the busy road that divides the harbour from their nests -- a specially-built penguin underpass.
Also known as kororā and as fairy penguins in Australia, the blue penguin is found in New Zealand and on the south coast of Australia. While threatened by predators, particularly dogs, coastal development is also threatening their nesting areas.
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The transit route was necessary to protect the small penguins from traffic, especially in summer, Jason Gaskill, general manager at Tourism Waitaki Limited told Mashable.
Typically blue penguins only come ashore at night, when they make the journey from the harbour, where they fish, to their nests.
While many blue penguin colonies around New Zealand are declining, Oamaru's is growing, Gaskill said.
"Penguins are quite habitual, so where they hatch they tend to return," he explained. "Over the last 25 to 30 years, as the penguin colony has been protected and provided a secure environment, the population has tended to grow."
The underpass idea came from research scientist Philippa Agnew, he said.
"The more we talked about it, it became apparent people were interested in giving it a go," he said. "We were reasonably confident that, given their natural tendency to be out of direct sunlight and in inclosed spaces, we felt strongly they would use it."
In the end it was a community effort, with the council and local companies offering financial support as well as supplies.
According to Gaskill, the penguins are happily using the underpass which is located just outside the colony proper.
"Penguins are creatures of habit, so once they discover a safe, reliable path, they tend to follow other penguins," he explained. "Once the penguins discovered it, it was just a matter of time until using it was consistent thing."
While there are no other penguin roadways in the works, Gaskill wouldn't rule it out.
"All native wildlife is important and deserves to be protected," he added.
[H/T CNN]
Topics Sustainability
Ariel Bogle was an associate editor with Mashable in Australia covering technology. Previously, Ariel was associate editor at Future Tense in Washington DC, an editorial initiative between Slate and New America.
