Little penguin
Eudyptula minor (J. R. Forster, 1781)
The little penguin (Eudyptula minor) is a bird in the penguin family Spheniscidae, order Sphenisciformes, also called Korora, Blue penguin, Fairy penguin and Little blue penguin. It is a medium-sized marine bird and aquatic predator with an adult body mass of 1.108 kg, with values from 1.085 to 1.244 kg reported by our sources.
Quick facts about the little penguin
Clutches hold 2 eggs, incubated for 38 days, with 1.5 clutches per year, and sexual maturity comes at 2 years. Checklists record it in Australia, its geographic range covers 365,300 km², it is partially migratory, and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
- Weight
- 1.09 kg – 1.24 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 14 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 16.9 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- marinesrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 38 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 23.9 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1.5src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Aquaticsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Photos of the little penguin
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the little penguin live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The little penguin is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Why a country list is not a range map
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is 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.
From the Wikipedia article “Little penguin” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Little_penguin&oldid=1384050422), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
What does the little penguin sound like?
Is the little penguin endangered?
The little penguin is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the little penguin classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderSphenisciformes
- familySpheniscidae
- genusEudyptula
- SpeciesEudyptula minor (J. R. Forster, 1781)
Synonyms Aptenodytes minor
Other names and names in other languages (61)
- Blue penguinEnglish
- Blue penguinEnglish
- Fairy penguinEnglish
- Fairy penguinEnglish
- KororaEnglish
- Little blue penguinEnglish
- KleinpikkewynAfrikaans
- بطريق قزمArabic
- بطريق أزرق صغيرArabic
- Малък пингвинBulgarian
- লিটল পেঙ্গুইনBangla
- Mankig glasBreton
- pingüí petitCatalan
- tučňák nejmenšíCzech
- alvWelsh
- DværgpingvinDanish
- ZwergpinguinGerman
- nana pingvenoEsperanto
- Blua pingvenetoEsperanto
- Pingüino azulSpanish
- Pingüino del hadaSpanish
- Pingüino enanoSpanish
- Pingüino pequeñoSpanish
- Pingüinos azulesSpanish
- kääbuspingviinEstonian
- پنگوئن کوچکPersian
- sinipingviiniFinnish
- Manchot pygméeFrench
- פינגווין זוטרHebrew
- patuljasti pingvinCroatian
- kék pingvinHungarian
- Pinguino minoreItalian
- Pinguino minore bluItalian
- コビトペンギンJapanese
- コガタペンギンJapanese
- フェアリーペンギンJapanese
- リトルペンギンJapanese
- mažasis pingvinasLithuanian
- KororāMāori
- Цэнхэр оцон шувууMongolian
- Изи пингвинWestern Mari
- dwergpinguïnDutch
- dvergpingvinNorwegian
- pingwin małyPolish
- نکا پینگوئنWestern Panjabi
- pinguim-anãoPortuguese
- Pinguim-azulPortuguese
- pinguim-pequenoPortuguese
- Малый пингвинRussian
- tučniak malýSlovak
- pritlikavi pingvinSlovenian
- Mali pingvinSerbian
- Патуљасти пингвинSerbian
- dvärgpingvinSwedish
- เพนกวินน้อยThai
- นกเพนกวินน้อยThai
- Küçük PenguenTurkish
- пінгвін малийUkrainian
- 小企鵝Chinese
- 小企鹅Chinese
- 小藍企鵝Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the little penguin
Other species in the same genus Eudyptula.
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
How heavy is a little penguin?
An adult Little penguin weighs 1.108 kg, with values from 1.085 to 1.244 kg reported by our sources.
What does the little penguin eat?
The little penguin is an aquatic predator and a carnivore.
Is the little penguin endangered?
No. It is listed as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How long does a little penguin live?
The little penguin has a lifespan of 14 years, and our sources report values up to 16.92 years.
How many eggs does a little penguin lay?
A clutch holds 2 eggs, with 1.5 clutches per year and an incubation period of 38 days.
Which countries is the little penguin recorded in?
Checklists record the little penguin in Australia, and its geographic range covers 365,300 km².
What other names does the little penguin have?
The little penguin is also called Korora, Blue penguin, Fairy penguin and Little blue penguin.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Little penguin (Eudyptula minor). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/little-penguin
“Little penguin (Eudyptula minor).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/little-penguin.
@misc{little_penguin_2026,
title = {Little penguin (Eudyptula minor)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/little-penguin},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}