Why we feel it is important to support the TrustThe Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust works tirelessly to raise funds and awareness for the plight of a unique penguin which inhabits the corner of New Zealand where all our wool products are manufactured.
The Yellow-eyed Penguin is a delightfully different little bird. Contrary to most people's idea of a penguin habitat, there isn't an iceberg in sight. Instead this bird prefers the deep shade of south New Zealand's coastal forests. Yellow-eyed Penguins are one of the rarest of the world's 17 species of penguins (in1990/1991 only an estimated 150 pairs were left on the South Island of New Zealand and at the time it was probably the rarest penguin in the world). The penguins prefer the privacy of secluded nest sites scattered deep in coastal forest, scrub or dense flax. Nests and roosting sites can be found upto 1 km inland.
These are the largest of the temperate penguins, living and breeding in the southern regions of New Zealand. They are distributed from Banks Peninsula south to Stewart Island, and the subantarctic Auckland and Campbell islands.
Scientifically it is very special. Penguin fossils dating back more than 60 million years have been found in New Zealand. It is the only one of its genus Megadyptes antipodes. |
 Key FactsScientific Name: Megadyptes antipodes
Maori Name: Hoiho ("noise shouter")
Life Span: Upto 20 years
Height: Approx 68cm or 26"
Weight: 5-8kg or 11-17 pounds
Food: Small fish and squid caught at depths of upto 130m
Habitat: South east coast of the South Island, Stewart Island and as far south as the sub-antarctic Auckland and Campbell Islands
Population: An estimated 460 pairs live on mainland New Zealand, with an estimated 1200 to 1500 pairs on the remote islands (2006).
An existence fraught with danger
Yellow Eyed Penguins are adapted to a life ashore in the cool coastal forests of New Zealand. But in these once extensive habitats, they became casualties to the needs of newly arrived humans. Not only did Maori hunt them for food, but Maori and European fires destroyed vast tracts of coastal forests. Today the surviving fragments of forest and scrub are insufficient to support a vibrant and flourishing penguin population.
Marooned in tiny patches of failing bush, their existence has been challenged by a number of unfamiliar predators introduced by humans such as dogs, cats, possums, stoats and ferrets.
Fat and heavily feathered, the Yellow Eyed Penguin is perfectly insulated for foraging in the depths of the southern cold ocean. But ashore, in this warm temperature climate, the heavy insulation becomes a penalty. The birds cannot remove their "wetsuits"and they must find shady, moist undergrowth to avoid lethal rises in body temperature.
At sea, the penguins face, not only their natural predators (sealions, sharks and barracouta) but also fishing sea-nets which drown them in unacceptable numbers. There are indications that global warming may be impacting on the food webs on which they depend and these are longer term problems to work on. Occasionally the populations suffer terribly from epidemics of diseases and little can be done to prevent them. |
