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Seventeen species of penguin have been found in the world, of which thirteen has been found in the region of New Zealand. Four species breed on the New Zealand mainland and an important species among them is the yellow-eyed penguin. The yellow-eyed Penguin, the rarest penguin in the world is endemic to New Zealand. Being the only member of the Genus Megadyptes, the Yellow-Eyed Penguin is the most ancient of all the species of living penguins. These Yellow-Eyed Penguins also known as Hoiho in Maori dialect of New Zealand has varying colors of Slate grey and blue back with white breasts and bellies, yellow eyes and eye bands and skin-colored feet. The Megadyptes Antipode (Yellow-Eyed Penguin) has a life span of twenty-two years and a shrill voice.
Approximately their estimated population in New Zealand is around four-hundred and fifty pairs and two hundred pairs in Stewart Island. Penguin Place, Yellow Eyed Penguin Conservation Reserve in Dunedin, New Zealand is the abode of Yellow Eyed Penguins. The Dunedin conservationists constituted the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust in 1987 with the objective of restoring and preserving the coastal forest and controlling predators. The main focus of the Penguin Place is to nurture and conserve the penguins, but apart from this, the trust is also involved in the preservation of native species of flora and fauna. You can watch the penguins lounging in their natural habitat, from a close distance through an exclusive system of hides and tunnels.
This Yellow Eyed Penguin Conservation Reserve have been doing a great work by reestablishing their breeding habitat, setting up nesting sites, trapping predators and caring for the injured and sick penguins. This reserve has also been carrying out their own research programs for preserving the species of these Yellow Penguins.
Although the Trust is located in Dunedin, but it also looks after other penguin interests and manages other lands in the New Zealand. Address
Penguin Place
Harington Point Road
Dunedin
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