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Little (Blue) Penguins 

close up of Little penguin Little (Blue) Penguin chick Little penguin Little penguin chick

Little (Blue) Penguins
Scientific Name: Eudyptula Minor 

The Little penguin is the smallest of all the penguins. It is also know as the Little Blue, Fairy, or Blue penguin.  The Little penguin can be recognized by the  blue-grey back feathers and the white fronts. The Little penguin will grow to about 40 cm tall and will weigh between 200g and 1Kg.
map of breeding locations of Little penguin Little penguins live on the coast of Southern Australia, Tasmania and in New Zealand. We do not know how many Little penguins there are, but we think there are fewer than 500,00 pairs who lay eggs and take care of chicks.
You can see on the map the islands of Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand. The dots on the map show places where Little penguins live.

Little penguins dig burrows, underground holes, in the earth to use as nests. The female will usually lay two eggs and usually both chicks will be cared for after they hatch. It takes about 39 days for an egg to hatch. The parents will take turns caring for the eggs, trading places every 1 to 3 days. While one is caring for the egg, the other is out getting food. After the eggs hatch, one parent will stay with the chicks for 2-3 weeks. The other parent will go to get food. After about 3 weeks both parents will need to bring back food for the chicks. The chicks will grow quickly and have adult size in about 65 days. Then the baby feathers fall out and adult feathers grow. This is called molting. When the adult feathers grow in, then the young penguins will go to sea.

When the Blue penguin is about 3 years old, it will choose a mate. This pair will often stay together for life. They will also return to the area where they were raised, and once settled, never move from the place. The Blue penguin may live for as many as 25 years.
Information for this page comes from Pete and Barb's Penguin Pages,  Penguins Around the World, and from Highland Peaks.

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Created by Tim Kruger  March 30, 2006
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