biology

Little penguin

Little penguin is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Little penguin rather than just read about it. In short: 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.

Key takeaways

Little penguin belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Little penguin to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Little penguin from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

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.

Taxonomy

The little penguin was first described by German naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster in 1781. Several subspecies are known, but a precise classification of these is still a matter of dispute. The holotypes of the subspecies E. m. variabilis and Eudyptula minor chathamensis are in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. The white-flippered penguin (E. m. albosignata or E. m. minor morpha albosignata) is currently considered by most taxonomists to be a colour morph or subspecies of Eudyptula minor. In 2008, Hadoram Shirihai treated the little penguin and white-flippered penguin as allospecies. However, as of 2012, the IUCN and BirdLife International consider the white-flippered penguin to be a subspecies or morph of the little penguin. Little penguins from New Zealand and Australia were once considered the same species, called Eudyptula minor. Analysis of mtDNA in 2002 revealed two clades in Eudyptula: one containing little penguins of New Zealand's North Island, Cook Strait and Chatham Island, as well as the white-flippered penguin, and a second containing little penguins of Australia and the Otago region of New Zealand. Preliminary analysis of braying calls and cluster analysis of morphometrics partially supported these results. A 2016 study described the Australian little penguin as a new and separate species, Eudyptula novaehollandiae. E. minor is endemic to New Zealand, while E. novaehollandiae is found in Australia and Otago. A 2019 study supported the recognition of E. minor and E. novaehollandiae as separate species. The IUCN assessment for Eudyptula minor uses Eudyptula minor and Eudyptula novaehollandiae interchangeably throughout the report to specify location, but considers them as two genetically distinct clades within the same species.

Description

Like those of all penguins, the wings of Eudyptula species have developed into flippers used for swimming. Eudyptula species typically grow to between 30 and 33 cm (12 and 13 in) tall and on average weigh 1.5 kg (3.3 lb). The head and upper parts are blue in colour, with slate-grey ear coverts fading to white underneath, from the chin to the belly. Their flippers are blue in colour. The dark grey-black beak is 3–4 cm long, the irises pale silvery- or bluish-grey or hazel, and the feet pink above with black soles and webbing. An immature individual will have a shorter bill and lighter upperparts. Like most seabirds, the Eudyptula species have a long lifespan. The average for the species is 6.5 years, but flipper ringing experiments show that in very exceptional cases they may live up to 25 years in captivity. Eudyptula minor does not have the distinct bright blue feathers that distinguish Eudyptula novaehollandiae. In addition, the vocalisation patterns of the New Zealand lineage located on Tiritiri Matangi Island vary from the Australian lineage located in Oamaru. Females are known to prefer the local call of the New Zealand lineage. There are also behavioural differences that help differentiate these penguins. Those of the Australian lineage will swim together in a large group after dusk and walk along the shore to reach their nesting sites. This may be an effective predator avoidance strategy by traveling in a large group simultaneously. This has not been seen by those of the New Zealand lineage. Eudyptula minor only recently encountered terrestrial vertebrate predators, while Eudyptula novaehollandiae would have had to deal with carnivorous marsupials. Also, Eudyptula novaehollandiae located in Australia will double brood. Birds will double brood by laying another clutch of eggs in hopes to increase their reproductive success. They complete this after the first clutch has successfully fledged. They may also do this due to the increasing sea surface temperatures and changing sources of food that are available. This behaviour has never been observed by those in New Zealand.

Distribution and habitat

The Australian little penguin is native to Southern Australia. The species also colonised the Otago region of New Zealand after the human-caused decline of the endemic species Eudyptula minor. Tagged or banded birds later recaptured or found deceased have shown that individual birds can travel great distances during their lifetimes. In 1984, a penguin that had been tagged at Gabo Island in eastern Victoria was found dead at Victor Harbor in South Australia. Another little penguin was found near Adelaide in 1970 after being tagged at Phillip Island in Victoria the previous year. In 1996, a banded penguin was found dead at Middleton. It had been banded in 1991 at Troubridge Island in Gulf St Vincent, South Australia. The Australian little penguin's foraging range is quite limited in terms of distance from shore when compared to seabirds that can fly.

Australia The Australian little penguin occurs across Southern Australia, including New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia, and the Jervis Bay Territory. Colonies primarily exist on offshore islands, where they are protected from feral terrestrial predators and human disturbance. Colonies are found from Port Stephens in northern New South Wales around the southern coast to Fremantle, Western Australia. Foraging penguins have occasionally been seen as far north as Southport, Queensland and Shark Bay, Western Australia.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Little penguin: A white-flippered penguin in the South Island — A white-flippered penguin in the South Island

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Little penguin

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Little penguin claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Little penguin before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Little penguin ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Little penguin

In research: Little penguin appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Little penguin in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Little penguin is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Birds described in 1781, Birds described in 2015, Birds of Australia, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Little penguin outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Little penguin in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Little penguin means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Little penguin out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Little penguin in simple terms?

Why does Little penguin matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Little penguin?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Little penguin.