Hundreds of the smallest penguins in the world have mysteriously washed up dead in New Zealand, leaving scientists baffled.

Over 500 Eudyptula minor, popularly known as the world’s smallest penguins, have reportedly washed up dead on beaches across New Zealand in recent months. Scientists are currently baffled as to what is causing these species to die in such massive numbers for no apparent reason, however, they assume climate change is to blame. These little penguins, called koror, have been washing up on beaches on the North Island of the country since early May.

The single highest cluster of deaths was reported on Ninety Mile Beach near Kaitaia earlier this month, when 183 dead birds were discovered at the same time.

According to the Guardian, another 109 birds were discovered dead on the same beach approximately a month ago.

According to the New Zealand Department of Conservation, another cluster of roughly 100 dead penguins was discovered on Cable Bay in Nelson, amid other die-offs (DOC)

Although experts have yet to determine what killed the penguins, they have noticed that the majority of the specimens were extremely underweight.

Healthy Little penguins weigh between 800 grams to 1 kilogram, with some bodies weighing less than half that.

“There was just no body fat on them; there was hardly any muscle to show,” DOC seabird expert Graeme Taylor told The Guardian.

“When they get to that stage of emaciation, they can’t dive.”

He went on to say that this leads the birds to die of famine or hypothermia owing to a lack of protective blubber.

The Department of Commerce argues that the Koror are starving not as a result of overfishing, but rather as a result of climate change warming the waters, making it too hot for the fish they eat to live.

For the sixth year in a row, the Earth experienced the warmest ocean temperatures in recorded history, breaking the previous year’s record.

A lengthy cyclical phenomenon called as La Nia has caused maritime heatwaves, which have caused temperatures to rise in New Zealand in particular.

Due to the warming of the oceans, the little fish that serve as food for penguins migrate to colder depths or exit the ocean entirely.

“This little species [of penguin] can dive down to 20 or 30 metres routinely,” Mr Taylor added, “but it’s not that good at diving a lot deeper than that.”

Hi @docgovtnz, 3 dead blue penguins on 90 mile beach today, about 12km north of #Ahipara. All within a 100m stretch of each other. Run over by cars? Or victims of a certain fishing method? #NewZealand #Aotearoa #Wildlife #Penguins@nzherald @NZStuff @Breakfaston1 pic.twitter.com/isuo4OV1Yk

— Jeff Rice (@EvolvingCaveman) May 2, 2022

He speculated that the fish had remained out of reach of the penguins due to the warm water temperatures during the winter.

While large-scale seabird deaths are not uncommon, Mr Taylor warned that these occurrences are becoming more common over time.

“As you start seeing it happen regularly like this, then there’s really not much chance for the birds to recover between the events, and rebuild the numbers again,” he continued.

Image Credit: Getty

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