Little penguin
| Little penguin | |
|---|---|
| Little penguin (Eudyptula minor), moving up from the shore at night towards its burrow on Kapiti Island, New Zealand. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Sphenisciformes |
| Family: | Spheniscidae |
| Genus: | Eudyptula |
| Species: | E. minor |
| Binomial name | |
| Eudyptula minor (Forster, 1781) | |
| The range of Eudyptula minor is in blue. | |
The little penguin (Eudyptula minor) is the smallest species of penguin. It originates from New Zealand. It is commonly known as the fairy penguin, little blue penguin, or blue penguin, owing to its slate-blue plumage and is also known by its Māori name kororā. It is a marine neritic species that dives for food throughout the day and returns to burrows on the shore at dusk, making it the only nocturnal penguin species on land. The Australian little penguin (Eudyptula novaehollandiae), from Australia and the Otago region of New Zealand, is considered a separate species.
Eudyptula minor feathers are dense in melanosomes, which increase water resistance and give them their unique blue colour.