Back Kleinpikkewyn Afrikaans بطريق قزم Arabic بطريق قزم ARZ Eudyptula minor AST Ziosk (Eudyptula) AVK Kiçik pinqvin Azerbaijani Малък пингвин Bulgarian লিটল পেঙ্গুইন Bengali/Bangla Mankig glas Breton Pingüí petit Catalan
| 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.[2] | |
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.[3][4] The Australian little penguin (Eudyptula novaehollandiae), from Australia and the Otago region of New Zealand, is considered a separate species.[5][6]
Eudyptula minor feathers are dense in melanosomes, which increase water resistance and give them their unique blue colour.[7]
- ^ BirdLife International (2020). "Eudyptula minor". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T22697805A202126091. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T22697805A202126091.en. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
- ^ "Fig 1. Map of distribution of Eudyptula penguins. Blue and red colours..." ResearchGate. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
- ^ Department of Conservation, Marine Ecosystems Team (July 2015). "Little penguin behaviour and ecosystem health" (PDF). Wellington, New Zealand: New Zealand Government. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
- ^ Rodríguez, Airam; Chiaradia, André; Wasiak, Paula; Renwick, Leanne; Dann, Peter (April 2016). "Waddling on the Dark Side: Ambient Light Affects Attendance Behavior of Little Penguins". Journal of Biological Rhythms. 31 (2): 194–204. doi:10.1177/0748730415626010. hdl:10261/132256. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
- ^ Grosser, Stefanie; Rawlence, Nicolas J.; Anderson, Christian N. K.; Smith, Ian W. G.; Scofield, R. Paul; Waters, Jonathan M. (10 February 2016). "Invader or resident? Ancient-DNA reveals rapid species turnover in New Zealand little penguins". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 283 (1824): 20152879. doi:10.1098/rspb.2015.2879. ISSN 0962-8452. PMC 4760177. PMID 26842575.
- ^ Cole, Theresa L; Ksepka, Daniel T; Mitchell, Kieren J; Tennyson, Alan J D; Thomas, Daniel B; Pan, Hailin; Zhang, Guojie; Rawlence, Nicolas J; Wood, Jamie R; Bover, Pere; Bouzat, Juan L (1 April 2019). "Mitogenomes Uncover Extinct Penguin Taxa and Reveal Island Formation as a Key Driver of Speciation". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 36 (4): 784–797. doi:10.1093/molbev/msz017. ISSN 0737-4038. PMID 30722030.
- ^ Clarke, Julia A.; et al. (2010). "Fossil Evidence for Evolution of the Shape and Color of Penguin Feathers". Science. 330 (6006): 954–957. doi:10.1126/science.1193604. PMID 20929737.
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