Little Penguin

Eudyptula minor (Forster, JR, 1781)

Little Penguin, Eudyptula minor, breeds in Australasia, including southern Australia and the North, South, Stewart and Chatham islands, east of South Island in New Zealand. It is a penguin of the family Spheniscidae, first described by Forster in 1781. It is the smallest penguin in the world and is also called the fairy penguin, little blue penguin, blue penguin and kororā. Its feathers are packed with melanosomes, which help repel water and give it its blue tone. It is a marine neritic species. It feeds by diving during the day and goes back to burrows on shore at dusk.

Order

Sphenisciformes

Family

Spheniscidae — Penguins

Breeding range

Australasia: s Australia and North, South, Stewart and Chatham is. (e of South I.; New Zealand)