Identifcation:

The Yellow-Eyed Penguin is New Zealand’s largest breeding penguin, reaching between 62–79 centimeters tall. They are easily recognized and named for the yellow feathers around their eyes that extend to the back of their head as well as the yellow fleck found all over their body. These penguins weigh around 5kg and have a blue-black back with lighter red-brown feathers around the face. The underside of their flippers and stomach are white and they’ve got a pale pink-red bill and feet.

Juvenile penguins are fully red-brown with baby feathers and have black feet and feathers. They fledge these baby feathers and gain their adult feathers at around 4 months. 

These penguins can live up to 20 years but typically live around 10-12 years. 

Fun Facts! 

- The Maori name Hoiho means ‘noise shouter' as a reference to the loud calls heard at the breeding sites. 

- Their scientific name, Megadyptes antipodes, actually describes the penguin mega = big, dyptes = divers, antipodes - southern lands, together meaning the big divers of the southern lands. 

Behaviour: 

These birds are incredibly shy compared to other penguins and prefer to be next away from others. However, like most are marine feeders eating mainly fish but also eat squid. To catch their food they often forage up to and sometimes more than 60km of shore with about a maximum depth of 150 meters and can dive around 200 times in a day.

Breeding: 

Pairs normally start to nest in August laying around 2 small pale green eggs sized 75×55mm. Both parents incubate the nest for about 39–51 days. The eggs will then hatch around November and parents will first guard the chicks constantly (this is called the Guard stage) before later being left along during the day (called the post-guard stage). Then after fledging in February the chicks are fully waterproof and can then swim/live on their own. 

Distribution and population: 

They live around four main breeding sites in Aotearoa: Banks Peninsula, North Otago, Otago Peninsula, and the Catlins, but also breed on some of the Sub-Antarctic islands found on the coast of the South Island. 

The Yellow-Eyed Penguin is currently endangered and declining rapidly with a 70% decline in the last decade with only 166 currently breeding pairs and only a couple thousand individuals left. 

Threats:

Unfortunately, the Yellow-Eyed penguin faces a large number of threats.

Human Disturbance: These penguins get scared easily and so any interference from humans can lead to the parents getting scared from nests or their nests getting squashed. 

Predation: Aotearoa has many introduced land mammals that are huge predators for the penguins including pigs, dogs, rats, and mustelids. These mammals prey on both chicks and eggs. But even underwater the adults face predation from seals, sea lions, and sharks, this might be a naturally occurring source of predation however a combination of this and the introduced mammal put huge stress on the population. 

The fishing industry: As fishing is one of Aotearoa’s largest industry it sadly has a huge impact on the penguins as there is a large number get caught and get injured and/or die in the nets and a rapid decrease of fish in a given area. However, it also damages the seafloor ecosystem which can, in turn, affect the penguins. 

Global warming: With rising temperatures comes rising sea levels with means that fewer fish are found inshore leading to penguins having to go further to catch food. This gives them less energy and puts them at a higher risk of predation.