Protecting the Hoiho, Preserving Our Coast.

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.

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.

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.

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.