![]() The Department of Conservation recognizes the necessity for more intense conservation activities, however, due to limited resources, there is no pro-active conservation actions being undertaken by the Department. The above mentioned conservation efforts have been privately funded and privately initiated. Around the colony at Harris bay, a predator fence has been set to protect the area from the intrusion of predators. At Harris Bay next to Boulder Bay, a colony has been re-established by Dr Chris Challies, using "chick transfer" technique from Motunau Island. Some farmers on Banks Peninsula have been privately taking actions to protect White-flippered penguins. On Motunau Island where no human lives and without any predators the population has been stable. In a recent study, the aggregate number of nests declined from 489 to 85 between 19: an overall loss of 83%. Human settlement destroyed habitat outright and predators have overrun many of the remaining colonies. They have disappeared from much of their range since then, and are in much reduced numbers where they have survived. Have they been long endangered?īefore European settlement started around 1850 to Banks Peninsula, there were tens of thousands of White-flippered Penguins. A large oil spill would be disastrous to this penguin, and the threat is high because the birds nest in areas near shipping lanes. ![]() Also, domestic dogs could be a major threat.Īt sea, White-flippered Penguins have been frequently caught in near-shore set nets, especially around Motunau Island. Ferrets, feral cats and stoats are the main predators. ![]() The key land-based threats to White-flippered Penguins continue to be predation by introduced predators and habitat degradation by human activities. (Department of Conservation, New Zealand) as "Acutely-Threatened". IUCN (The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) and Birdlife International classified White-flippered penguin as "Endangered", and D.O.C. The most recent estimate of the total population is only 4,000 pairs (1,800 on Motunau Island and 2,200 on Banks Peninsula). They feed on small shoaling fish or squid, and less often on crustaceans. ![]() White-flippered Penguins lay their eggs in a burrow lined with plant material, or in hollows under bushes or rocks, in dunes, or on vegetated slopes of coasts and islands. It is considered to be the one and only indigenous creature unique to Canterbury, New Zealand. They breed only on Banks Peninsula (2,200 pairs) and Motunau Island (1,800 pairs). The White-flippered Penguin is endemic to Canterbury, New Zealand. Dr Baker stated in the petition prepared by the Center for Biological Diversity for US Department of the Interior, Fish & Wildlife Service that the two lineages diverged about 2.7 million years ago. ![]() However, recent genetic analysis conducted by Dr Baker in USA (2006), looking at both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA, has found the White-flippered Penguin distinct from the rest of the Little Penguins (E. The White-flippered Penguin was previously classified as a subspecies of the Little Penguin (Blue Penguin), or thought to be just a colour morph of the Little Penguin (Blue Penguin). They typically grow to 30 cm tall and weighing 1.5 kg. They are distinguished with broad white trailing and leading edges of the flipper. The White-flippered Penguin has an overall blue-grey appearance, which is very similar to the Little Penguin (Blue Penguin). The White-flippered Penguin (Eudyptula albosignata) is one of the world's smallest penguin species. ![]()
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