Yellow-Eyed Penguin
Yellow-Eyed Penguin
2. Their Maori name is Hoiho and means ‘noise shouter’. The noise they make helps to scare predators away.
3. A stripe of yellow runs across its face, over its eyes, meeting behind its head. A golden ring circles its eye. A crown of yellow feathers is on its head. Its thick beak is a reddish purple. The belly is snow white and the back a blue-grey. Yellow-Eyed Penguins stand about 24 inches tall and weigh about 13 pounds. The male has a slightly larger head and feet.
4. They live to be about 20 years old.
5. Yellow-Eyed Penguins are excellent swimmers and can dive down 400 feet after food. They can hold their breathe for about four minutes !
6. They like to spend the whole day out in the ocean, returning to land at dark. Often they go twenty miles out from shore before returning.
7. Opal fish, silverside, sprat, aruhu, red cod, and arrow squid are the Yellow-Eyed Penguin’s favourite foods.
8. Yellow-Eyed Penguins build their nests under trees and bushes, in logs or under banks. They do not have rookeries but live off by themselves. Nests are made of sticks and grass which shelter the eggs from the hot sun and storms. Both parents take turns caring for the two eggs and chicks until the chicks are ready to take care of themselves. The chicks do not live in crèches like other penguin chicks do.
9. Sharks and seals are their biggest enemies at sea. On land people, cats, dogs and rats are their worst enemies.
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