What is the smallest species of penguin?

The little penguin is the smallest penguin species in the world.

Also called the little blue penguin, fairy penguin, or kororā, it usually stands about 30 centimetres tall and weighs roughly 1 to 1.5 kilograms. Its slate-blue back helps it blend into the sea when viewed from above, while its pale underside provides camouflage from below.

Little penguins live around the coasts of New Zealand and southern Australia. They spend the day at sea hunting small fish, squid, and crustaceans, then return to shore around dusk. Unlike larger penguins that may nest in open colonies, they often shelter in burrows, rock crevices, or purpose-built nest boxes.

The name can cause confusion because Australian populations have sometimes been treated as a separate species, the Australian little penguin, while other classifications place them within the little penguin complex. That taxonomic debate does not change the standard quiz answer: this tiny blue penguin is the smallest living penguin.