Protected Penguins
Penguin Place is a sheep farm but also home to the world’s most endangered penguin - the yellow-eyed penguin. There are only 5000-6000 of them in existence, with around a quarter living on the East Coast of the South Island and Stewart Island. The remainder live on the Campbell and Auckland islands about 600km to the south. Maori named the yellow-eyed penguin the hoiho, meaning ‘the noise shouter’ as the penguin’s call can be ear-piercing. The Yellow Eyed Penguin Reserve is situated near the end of the Otago Peninsula, 40 minutes drive from Dunedin and five minutes from the Albatross Colony. The reserve has been enormously successful in increasing the number of yellow-eyed penguins from eight breeding pairs when it began, to around 36 pairs today. The conservation project was established in 1984 by Howard McGrouther and Scott Clarke and has since won several eco-tourism awards. Finance has been raised for the conservation project by having visitors to the reserve. They are taken on a guided tour through covered trenches and hidden observation huts, where the birds are oblivious to their presence and so go undisturbed.
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