Best start in life for little penguins

Phillip Island's fledgling penguin chicks are similar to young children, with positive early-life conditions giving them the best start in life.

A new study based entirely on penguins at the Penguin Parade over the past 26 years, has for the first time, provided valuable insights into the way little penguins grow in different conditions and environments.

It comes as the first penguin chicks of the breeding season are hatching on Phillip Island.

Researchers followed more than 2200 penguins from the 37,000 strong Summerland Peninsula colony, from hatching to the end of their lives, using unique long-term monitoring to study their ecology and how early-life growth influences individual life-history outcomes.

The study, in collaboration with French scientists, was published in the Journal of Animal Ecology and found that early developmental trajectories are strong predictors of individual reproductive success and survival in the wild.

Phillip Island Nature Parks Penguin Scientist, Adjunct Professor Andre Chiaradia said the analogy of penguins and children both needing the best start to life to thrive in later years means that for penguins, the faster and heavier chicks grow, the higher chance they will be successful in their adult life.

"Using a long-term data set with growth measurements and demographic modelling, we were able to examine the impact of early growth on subsequent life-history outcomes," Prof Chiaradia said.

"It's the first time we've been able to map this many penguins over their lifetime to get a full picture on what impacts their survival in the wild."

Study

Justine Wintz, a PhD student at the University of Strasbourg led the study.
"Our study shows that early developmental trajectories are strong predictors of individual reproductive success and survival in the wild," said Justine.

Co-author Claire Saraux from the Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien said "we found fast growers survived better, bred earlier, and produced more chicks without shortening their lifespan, showing a 'silver spoon' effect where strong early growth gives lifelong advantages in survival and reproduction."

Using a 26-year dataset on the ecology of little penguins, researchers compiled over 2200 chick growth curves and defined 11 growth parameters classified by magnitude, form and rate. It found three growth strategies: fast, slow, and light.

"Fast, regular, and robust growth - likely reflecting favourable environmental conditions and effective parental investment - was associated with the highest lifetime fitness outcomes," the report says.

"Nevertheless, individuals exhibited a range of growth trajectories, clustering into three broad types along a slow - fast continuum."

Prof Chiaradia said the results highlighted both the critical role of early-life conditions for little penguins, and the need for researchers to continue studying the growth variation of the species.

"This unprecedented dataset, tracking penguins from hatching to the end of their lives, provides a unique and robust foundation for understanding how early-life conditions shape survival and reproductive success, offering valuable insights for future studies on growth and adaptation in the wild," he said.

You can help contribute to vital research to protect little penguins by visiting the Penguin Parade or donating to the Penguin Foundation www.penguinfoundation.org.au
To read the full report, go to the British Ecological Society website.

Website only:
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.70124