Species Fact Profile: Blue Penguin (Eudyptula minor)

                                                      Little (Blue, Fairy) Penguin

Eudyptula minor (J. R. Forster, 1781)

Range: Coastal Southern Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand

Habitat: Coastal Habitats

Diet: Small Fish, Small Mollusks, Small Crustaceans

Social Grouping:  Loose Colonies

Reproduction:  Monogamous (may be for life).  Breed June through October in loose colonies.  Nest in burrows in the ground or in caves.  Lay 1-2 smooth white eggs, incubated for 31-40 days.  Chicks fledge at 50-65 days.  Females mature at 2 years, males at 3

Lifespan: Up to 25 Years

      Conservation Status: IUCN Least Concern

• Smallest penguin species in the world, standing an average of 30 centimeters tall and weighing 1.1 -1.2 kilograms.  Flipper length average of 11-12 centimeters.  Bill 3.4-3.5 centimeters long, 1.4-1.5 centimeters deep (males have slightly larger bills than females, juvenile bills are thinner and shorter than adults)
• Sexes look alike.  Top of the head, neck, and dorsal surface are indigo-blue.  Ventral surface, chin, and throat are white.  Contrast between light and dark areas not as well-defined as in other penguin species.  The color gets duller with age, with whites turning grey.  Bill is black.  Eyes vary from silver to blue to hazel.  Juvenile color is a brighter blue than the adults
• Most nocturnal of the penguins, but still do much of their feeding at day, returning to the nest at dusk.  Swim as far as 710 kilometers, usually staying 20 kilometers from shore.  Can dive to depths of over 60 meters, but usually remain with 5 meters of surface
• Gulls, snakes, skinks, and monitor lizards will eat eggs and nestlings.  Terrestrial predators are mostly introduced species – dogs, cats, rats, foxes, and weasels – as well as eagles.   At sea, they may be preyed upon by barracuda, sharks, seals, and orcas
• Parents guard the chick for the next 2-5 weeks, taking turns staying with it for 3-4 days at a time while the other goes off to feed (chicks have poor thermoregulatory ability, need to be fed very often).  
• Possible causes of decline are introduced predators, pollution (oil spills, plastics), loss of prey base due to overfishing, and disturbance of breeding habitat through development, erosion.  Most secure colonies are those on offshore islands, which are safe from introduced predators.  Past reports of unexplained mass mortality events – in 1940, a Phillip Island colony dropped from 2000 birds to 20 for unknown reasons, possibly pathogenic
• Historically penguins and their eggs were used as a food source by indigenous peoples and settlers, also hunted for skins.  Sometimes killed as bycatch in fishing nets, hit by cars