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From our scientist, Hiltrun Ratz, PhD
scientist@penguins.org.nz |
It is the middle of October and the Yellow-eyed penguins will have finished laying eggs. We have been busy finding nests and identifying the adults. It is not looking good. We have lost many penguins through the winter and the ones that returned to breed had to find new mates. There has been much rearranging of pairing and a number of males (sex bias in the population - never enough females) will be sitting out the season either because their mate has not returned or their mate ran off with the neighbour who has lost their mate. We are heart-broken because we feel we have done everything in our power to look after these birds in our patch, and despite our best efforts so many have perished. (and no, they haven't emigrated to another colony - this is extremely rare and cannot account for what we have found this season). This species is in deep trouble and all resources have to be poured into looking after them or we loose Yellow-eyed penguins from South Island, New Zealand.
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