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Little Penguin Rehabilitation Centre

The National Aquarium's Little Penguins (Kororā)

The Little Penguin (Kororā) is the world’s smallest species of penguin and is native to New Zealand (as well as South Australia). Their name is perfect, because Little Penguins only grow to about 30cm tall, and usually only weigh around 1kg.      

All of the National Aquarium of New Zealand’s Little Penguins are there because they need help from the Aquarium’s specialist staff. They arrived as abandoned chicks, victims of dog attacks, partially sighted, or have become sick in the wild. Some are missing flippers due to getting caught in fishing nylon.

The Aquarium’s Penguin Cove facility is a rehabilitation centre for little penguins, assisting with recovery of sick or injured birds and returning them to the wild. Some penguins are not strong enough to return to their natural habitats, so they find a permanent home at Penguin Cove. The penguins have lots of space to waddle across their own private beach and then dart through the water as they go about their penguin business.   

The Aquarium team work closely key stakeholders including the Department of Conservation, Napier Port, and Napier City Council when dealing with injured Little Penguins.

Report a Little Penguin

If you see an injured Little Penguin out in the wild, please phone Department of Conservation on 0800 DOC HOT.

Penguin Close Encounter

We can't wait to show you our world.

Opening Hours

Daily from 9:00am - 5:00pm
(including public holidays)
last entry 4:30pm

Address

Marine Parade, Napier

+64 6 834 1404

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While every endeavour has been taken by the National Aquarium of New Zealand to ensure that the information on this website is accurate and up to date, National Aquarium of New Zealand shall not be liable for any loss suffered through the use, directly or indirectly, of information on this website. Information contained has been assembled in good faith. Some of the information available in this site is from the New Zealand Public domain and supplied by relevant government agencies. National Aquarium of New Zealand cannot accept any liability for its accuracy or content. Portions of the information and material on this site, including data, pages, documents, online graphics and images are protected by copyright, unless specifically notified to the contrary. Externally sourced information or material is copyright to the respective provider.

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