Wee penguin loves South, shuns North
Researchers are tracking one of the world’s rarest penguins, who has shunned the North Island in favour of the South Island’s east coast.
Since being fitted with a GPS tracker, penguin chick Takaraha has clocked up 1000 kilometres.
The latest data shows Takaraha decided not to cross Cook Strait and instead stay near the South Island.
The Catlins penguin has travelled 954km and is currently off the Wairau River Mouth, near Blenheim.
He is one of this season’s hoiho (yellow-eyed penguin) chicks, who are having their every move tracked due to concerns about the endangered species’ survival.
The University of Otago research involves 23 penguins being equipped with a satellite tag that provides researchers with their GPS positions.
Of the 23 birds, 15 have moved from their hatching areas, including the wide-roaming penguin Takaraha.
Three birds had already gone offline, meaning they have either pulled the device off or died.
The tags have been attached to the birds’ lower backs using cloth tape under a small patch of feathers and are secured with cable ties.
University of Otago Zoology Associate Professor Yolanda van Heezik said tracking technology only become small enough to safely carry out the study in recent years.
‘‘It has been very exciting seeing just where these young birds go’’.
Grants and donations were used to buy 20 satellite tags for this season’s research.
Zoology researcher Dr Thomas Mattern said the study would provide crucial data to assist in pinpointing the factors leading to early hoiho deaths in yellow-eyed penguins.
‘‘There is quite some urgency, as we are facing the loss of the species from the New Zealand mainland in the next few decades.’’
He was optimistic about the future of the hoiho, saying the tracking would help ‘‘improve our understanding of important foraging areas and influence the management of regional threats to juvenile survival at these locations’’.