The tiny residents of a town in southerly New Zealand have find   their own private underpass . But rather than being characters from Middle Earth , the little critters in question are   lilliputian bluish penguin . for try and protect the penguin on their day-after-day commute from the sea   to their nest , the town of Oamaru havebuilt them a tunnel .

The penguins in enquiry are in reality the smallest in the world . have sex as dismal – or simply niggling – penguins , they are found along much of the seashore of   New Zealand , as well as the south sea-coast of Australia and now and again as far abroad as Chile . Averaging just 30 centimeters ( 1 foot ) in stature , the bantam birdie spend most of their twenty-four hour period at ocean search   for small Pisces and crustaceans , before generate to their burrows at dusk to eat their chicks .

It is this commute that   the town in New Zealandhope to help , by providing the tiny hiss a safe passageway across the road that separate the two . Not only will the   underpass   help prevent inadvertent smasher and runs , the authorities also hope it will relieve the stress that the penguins experience as they exit the harbor only to be face by horde of tourists wanting to take photos . While the visitors may have good aim , they have been known to get in the way and forestall the birds from return to fee their biddy .

Therefore ,   the kinfolk in Oamaru have fix the near solution is to build them their own personal penguin straits , a burrow that conduct straight from the haven ( under the fussy route )   to their colony . So as not to cut off their raw route , the construction of the 25 - m ( 82 - foot ) underpass ask that watercourse and power lines be moved .

The reaction to the intervention , which convey around three week to work up , has been “ almost universally positive,”according tothe colony ’s ecumenical manager Jason Gaskill .

“ There was likely danger there , so what we want to do was create an environment where people , penguins and vehicle could move freely , ” Gaskilltold CNN . “ I would say that the project itself has catch the imagination of a lot of people – the local community of interests include . ”

Hopefully , the miniature penguins will now be able to go about their fishy business not only safely but a little more in private too .