Yellow-eyed penguin

Yellow-eyed penguin
At Curio Bay, Southland District, New Zealand
Conservation status
Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Sphenisciformes
Family:	Spheniscidae
Genus:	Megadyptes
Species:	M. antipodes
Binomial name
Megadyptes antipodes (Hombron & Jacquinot, 1841)
Subspecies
Megadyptes antipodes antipodes Megadyptes antipodes waitaha † Megadyptes antipodes richdalei †
Distribution of yellow-eyed penguin

The yellow-eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes), known also as hoiho, is a species of penguin endemic to New Zealand.^[2][3] It is the sole extant species in the genus Megadyptes.

Previously thought closely related to the little penguin (Eudyptula minor), molecular research has shown it more closely related to penguins of the genus Eudyptes. Like most penguins, it is mainly piscivorous.

The species breeds along the eastern and south-eastern coastlines of the South Island of New Zealand, as well as Stewart Island / Rakiura, Auckland Islands, and Campbell Islands. Colonies on the Otago Peninsula are a popular tourist venue, where visitors may closely observe penguins from hides, trenches, or tunnels.

On the New Zealand mainland, the species has experienced a significant decline over the past 20 years. On the Otago Peninsula, numbers have dropped by 75% since the mid-1990s and population trends indicate the possibility of local extinction in the next 20 to 40 years. While the effect of rising ocean temperatures is still being studied, an infectious outbreak in the mid-2000s played a large role in the drop. Human activities at sea (fisheries, pollution) may have an equal if not greater influence on the species' downward trend.^[4]