Yellow-eyed penguins/hoiho are notoriously shy and anti-social. It is a wonder how someone managed to get one to pose long enough for their portrait on the NZD5! Hoiho prefer to build their nests away from other penguins and demonstrate sexual equality by mum and dad taking turns to incubate the egg for six weeks. Thereafter, if successful, two chicks will hatch and will be guarded by either mum or dad, while the other forages. Once the chicks have fledged into their waterproof plumage, they must answer the call of the sea. Where only twenty percent will return home.
Read on to learn more from Jason at Penguin Place – conservation reserve.
Q. What other species of penguins do you have currently?
A. We have the little blue penguins/kororā. We do not rehabilitate them, but we do actively monitor them to make sure they are not declining. Thankfully they are not a declining species, so we just keep tabs on them. We do occasionally get Fiordland crested penguins/tawaki, they come through our facility when they are on the wrong side on the island – the east. We get them fit and healthy and release them back to the west coast.
Q. Seals are frequent visitors to Penguin Place. What is their relationship to hoiho?
A. Friendly, there is a common misconception that New Zealand fur seals/kekeno eat penguins, it is rare. We also get a few New Zealand sea lions/pakake, they can eat the penguins, but they are also endangered themselves. We love to see them regardless.
Photo: Tawaki by Sian Mair.