Stats

Lifespan

6-20 yrs

Size

Small

Diet

Carnivore

Activity

Nocturnal

Social

Colony

Biome

Coastal marine

Range

Oceania

Movement

Swimming

Breeding

Egg-laying

Defense

Camouflage

Status

Uncommon

About

Little penguins are the smallest species of penguin in the world, and are commonly known as the fairy penguin, little blue penguin, or blue penguin. They have dense feathers in melanosomes, which increase water resistance and give them their unique blue colour.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   egg

   A clutch of eggs is incubated in the nest, kept warm by a brooding parent until the chicks pip free.
2. 2.
   hatchling

   A naked or downy hatchling is fed in the nest by its parents.
3. 3.
   juvenile

   A feathered juvenile fledges from the nest and learns to fly and forage.
4. 4.
   adult

   Fully grown with adult plumage.

Learn more

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Sphenisciformes

Family

Spheniscidae

Genus

Eudyptula

Species

Eudyptula minor