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From our scientist, Hiltrun Ratz, PhD
scientist@penguins.org.nz |
Last weekend we had a self-admission into our rehab: this juvenile yellow-eyed penguin was found sitting patiently in our soft-release pen waiting to be picked up. He has been in rehab 5 times so far, last released on 15 July weighing 6kg. Now he weighed 3.3kg - he may have been able to catch some fish but it was obviously not enough and he probably thought that if he hangs out long enough in the soft-release pens there will be some fish in it for him eventually. And there was of course. What a clever bird. Here he is having another chance at life - and we will repeat this until he learns how to catch his own fish.
With all our rehab cases - even "lost" cases like this one - we never know whether the bird will eventually be a super-breeder like Diesel Dick (who was rehabilitated many times) and produce 30 or 40 chicks in his lifetime. So we put in the hard yards to getting him back up to 6kg again and releasing him for another chance. For now, it's R&R for his one and lots of fish! |
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