Fairy Penguin Fairy Penguin
Fairy Penguin

Scientific Classification

Common Name
fairy penguin, little penguin, little blue penguin
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Aves
Order
Sphenisciformes
Family
Spheniscidae
Genus Species
Eudyptula minor

Fast Facts

Description
The little penguin is the smallest of the 17 penguin species. They have slate-blue to black feathers and a white chin and chest.
Size
Up to 41 cm (16 in.)
Weight
Up to 1 kg (2 lbs.)
Diet
Small fishes
Incubation
33 to 37 days
Sexual Maturity
2 to 3 years old
Life Span
15 to 20 years
Range
Southern Australia and New Zealand
Habitat
Sandy or rocky islands
Population
469,760 individuals
Status 
IUCN: Least concern
CITES: Not listed
USFWS: Not listed

Fun Facts

Fairy penguins have bluish-gray eyes.

The maximum swimming speed for fairy penguins is about 2.5 kph (1.6 mph).

Fairy penguins can breed throughout the year and have the shortest breeding cycle of all penguin species, which lasts about 50 days.

Fairy penguins rely on burrows and a nocturnal lifestyle to avoid predators such as swamp harriers, peregrines, gulls, snakes, rats, and lizards.

For more information about penguins, explore the Penguin InfoBook.


Ecology and Conservation

Fairy penguins are negatively affected by several human-related factors including introduces predators such as dogs and cats, habitat destruction, bycatch, oil pollution. They are also sensitive to climate change.

All 18 penguin species are legally protected from hunting and egg collecting. The Antarctic Treaty of 1959 makes it illegal to harm, or in any way interfere with, a penguin or its eggs. Every penguin specimen collected with a permit must be approved by and reported to the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR). Penguins are vulnerable to habitat destruction, overfishing of primary food sources, ecological disasters such as oil spills, pollution such as trash in the ocean, and human encroachment into nesting areas.


Bibliography

BirdLife International (2006) Species factsheet: Eudyptula minor. Downloaded from birdlife.org

Coats, Judith. Penguins: Flightless Birds of the Southern Hemisphere. SeaWorld Education Department, 2001.

Nuzzolo, Debbie. Penguin March. SeaWorld Education Department, 2002.

BirdLife International 2018. Eudyptula minor . The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T22697805A132603951. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22697805A132603951.en. Downloaded on 13 March 2020.