Little penguin: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the little penguin lives – recorded in 2 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Eudyptula minor
Group	Penguins
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	2 countries
Continents	Oceania
Mass	52 g (birth weight); 1.24 kg (male organism, adult weight); 1.08 kg (female organism, adult weight)
Class	Bird
Order	Sphenisciformes
Family	Spheniscidae

Where does the little penguin live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the little penguin in 2 countries and territories across Oceania. Wikidata gives its range as: South America.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

How big is a little penguin?

Wikidata records the following for the little penguin: mass 52 g (birth weight); 1.24 kg (male organism, adult weight); 1.08 kg (female organism, adult weight).

Is the little penguin endangered?

The little penguin’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the little penguin?

The little penguin (Eudyptula minor) is a bird in the order Sphenisciformes and the family Spheniscidae, genus Eudyptula. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the little penguin

The little penguin (Eudyptula minor) is the smallest species of penguin in the world, and originates from New Zealand and Australia. 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. Eudyptula minor feathers are dense in melanosomes, which increase water resistance and give them their unique blue colour.

The Australian little penguin (Eudyptula novaehollandiae), from Australia and the Otago region of New Zealand, was initially described as Spheniscus novaehollandiae in 1826 but was later classified as Eudyptula minor novaehollandiae, a subspecies of the little penguin.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Little penguin (revision 1380905676), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q203628 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).