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Learn about the penguin

About Hoiho

About the yellow-eyed penguin

Yellow-eyed penguins, also known as hoiho, are one of the rarest penguins in the world and are only found in New Zealand (endemic). Hoiho are not as social as other penguins. Very shy, they prefer to nest often well away and out of sight of their neighbours.

Hoiho are dependent on both marine and terrestrial habitats. The land provides nesting habitat as well as loafing, roosting and moulting space. The sea provides food for hoiho and is essential for dispersal and movement between terrestrial habitats.

Megadyptes antipodes

The scientific name of the yellow-eyed penguin is Megadyptes antipodes which means big diver from the southern lands (mega = big, dyptes = diver, antipodes = southern lands).

Hoiho

Its Māori name, hoiho (meaning noise shouter), was given because of its shrill call. The yellow-eyed penguin is also known as takaraha, and an ancient Māori name was tavora.

Identification of hoiho

Adult birds

Adult yellow-eyed penguins have a distinctive band of yellow feathers around the back of the head and around the eyes. The crown, chin and cheeks are flecked black and yellow and the eyes are yellow. The bill is long and thin with a red-brown tip and upper, pale pink lower mandible. The back, tail and outside of the flippers are slate grey-blue and the breast, belly and under the flippers are white. The feet are pink on top and black on the soles. Males and females are identical in colouring, although males tend to be slightly larger.

Juvenile birds

Immature birds have grey eyes and no yellow eye band. Yellow head plumage is muted or absent. Birds gain their adult plumage at 14-16 months once the juvenile has moulted.

Chicks

Chicks are coated with thick dark brown down until they fledge.

Hoiho forage up to 25km offshore

Feeding behaviour of hoiho

Adult yellow-eyed penguins typically forage up to 25 km offshore during the breeding season. When birds do not have to return regularly to feed hungry chicks they can travel much further, up to 60 km or more from shore.

Hoiho dive to the seafloor to catch their prey and can do this as many as 200 times a day. Hoiho can dive to a maximum of about 150 metres, but more typically dives are 30-60 m.

Their favoured prey is small fish (up to 200 mm), including red cod, sprat, silverside, ahuru, blue cod and opalfish, as well as arrow squid. Chicks are fed a regurgitated soup of fish and squid by their parents.

Lifecycle of the hoiho

Mid-August

The 28-week breeding season begins when partnerships are formed or renewed, and nest sites are selected. Mating takes place.

Moulting

Unlike most other seabirds, penguins undergo an annual catastrophic moult where they lose and replace all of their feathers at once.

The moult takes 3 to 4 weeks and typically begins in February for juveniles and March/April for adults.

During the moult, because plumage is not waterproof and the body is not well insulated, they cannot go to sea to feed, and may lose 3 to 4 kg in weight.

They are confined to shore as they wait for their old feather coat to be replaced. This is a very stressful time for birds – energy levels are low, there is threat of starvation and dehydration, and they are unable to escape easily from predators.

Penguins are particularly scruffy and can sometimes look sick during the moult. Please contact the DOC helpline on 0800 DOCHOT if you are worried about a bird.

Senses of hoiho

The eyes are the keenest sense in penguins. A penguin's eyes are adapted to see clearly underwater and in the air. Their eyes are the primary sense used to find prey and avoid predators.

Penguins have colour vision, and are sensitive to blue, green and violet light.

Hearing ability in penguins is good. The olfactory lobe in a penguin's brain is large, and it is thought that some penguins may use smell to help locate their food.

Taste is poorly developed in birds and is assumed to be the same in penguins, although limited research has been carried out.

How hoiho adapt for life in the sea

An adaptation is a change that makes an animal more suited to life in its environment. Penguins are well designed for obtaining food and water, swimming and keeping warm in the sea.

Heavy, solid bones

These act like a diver's weight belt, allowing them to stay underwater.

Paddle-like flippers

The wings are modified into flattened broad bones with the joint of the elbow and wrist almost fused. Penguins flap their flippers to propel them through the water at speeds up to 20 km per hour.

Short wedge-shaped tail

Used as a prop on land or when climbing from the shore across rocks and up steep cliffs.

Strong legs with webbed feet

The legs are set far back on the body to help streamline the bird and steer while swimming. This placement also causes penguins to stand vertically and walk upright.

Long thin bill

The powerful bill is mainly used to catch food such as fish and squid. It is also used to preen feathers and to defend themselves from predators or other birds. The mouth and tongue are lined with backward pointing spines to hold the slippery fish until it is swallowed whole.

Special feathers

Penguins have many feathers to keep them warm in the sea by providing a waterproof insulating layer. Two layers of short, stiff and hooked feathers lock together, trapping a layer of air between the skin and the feathers. Underneath the outer feathers is a layer of down. Preening helps keep the feathers clean and well oiled. There is an oil gland at the tip of the tail – the bill is used to spread the oil through the feathers.

Blubber and salt glands

Penguins have a layer of blubber, or fat, under the skin to help keep them warm.

Salt glands are located just above the bill between the eyes. They remove the salt from seawater and fish, which is then excreted from the bill.

Colour

All adult penguins are counter-shaded – dark on the back and white on the underside. This is often thought to be for camouflage – the dark side blending with the dark ocean depths when viewed from above, and the white side blending with the lighter surface of the sea from below. Other theories have also been proposed including thermoregulation (the dark side faces upwards and absorbs heat from the sun to warm them) and social signalling (for attracting other penguins).

Keeping cool

Penguins are able to cool themselves by flushing blood through their flippers and feet. This is why penguin's feet turn bright pink on warm days. When they are really hot they pant!

A Unique Survivor: The Hoiho's Story

The Yellow-eyed Penguin, known to Māori as Hoiho (Megadyptes antipodes), is a remarkable bird steeped in history. It stands alone as the only surviving species within its genus (Megadyptes) and is considered by some scientists to be the most ancient of all living penguin species. Penguins themselves have a long history, believed to have evolved around 62 million years ago, shortly after the dinosaurs vanished.

New Zealand holds a unique place in penguin evolution, boasting fossils of more than half the known extinct penguin species. The oldest known penguin fossil, Waimanu manneringi (meaning "water bird" in Te Reo), was even discovered here in North Canterbury. The Hoiho's own story on the mainland is linked to a now-extinct relative, the Waitaha penguin (Megadyptes waitaha). Evidence suggests the Waitaha penguin was harvested to extinction around 1500 AD. This event paved the way for the Hoiho, which then expanded its range from the subantarctic Auckland and Campbell Islands to colonise the South Island coast.

Interestingly, many ancient penguins were significantly larger than their modern relatives, averaging 90cm compared to today's 60cm. New Zealand was home to giants like Pachydyptes ponderosus and Kairuku grebneffi. Standing around 1.3 metres tall, Kairuku (whose Māori name loosely translates to "diver who returns with food") had a distinctive spear-like bill, while the robust Pachydyptes weighed an estimated 80kg – double the weight of today's largest penguin, the Emperor! Why these giants disappeared around 24-25 million years ago remains uncertain, though climate shifts or increased predation are suspected causes.

NZ: Penguin fossil hotspot

New Zealand is a treasure trove for understanding penguin history, with over half the world's known fossil penguin species found here.

Giants of the penguin world

Prehistoric penguins were often giants! While today's Hoiho stands around 65cm, ancient species like New Zealand's Kairuku grebneffi (~1.3m tall, with a spear-like bill) and the hefty Pachydyptes ponderosus (~1.3m, ~80kg - twice an Emperor Penguin!) roamed the seas. Why these giants vanished around 24 million years ago remains a mystery, possibly linked to climate change or new predators.

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