Animal Guide

“Kigashira Penguin” means “yellow-eyed penguin,” due to its yellowish feather crests with reddish marks on the sides of its head. The yellow-eyed penguin exhibits a pinkish color at the tip of the beak and legs.
The yellow-eyed penguin is also distinguished from other penguin species by its home environment.
Although it lives in the ocean like other penguins, it makes its nest in the woods or bush areas rather than on the seashore. The bird builds its nest from sticks and grasses, lays eggs, and raises the chicks.
Unlike other species of penguin, the yellow-eyed penguin lives without forming large colonies neither living in flocks, and it also makes nests separate from its fellow penguins.
During the daytime the creature stays in the forest, fearing its enemies' attacks. It routinely goes to the sea after sunset to hunt fish, and returns to the nest in the morning.
The penguin goes back and forth between its nest and the sea, sometimes walking approximately one kilometer (0.6 miles) through thickets.

The habitat of the yellow-eyed penguin is limited to southeastern New Zealand and its surrounding islands. Due to deforestation for agricultural land and ranches, the species has greatly diminished in number over the years. The bird has also suffered severely at the hands of hunters, who have slaughtered great numbers for its blubber and eggs. Moreover, it is occasionally attacked by other animals such as dogs and cats, and is accidentally killed in fishermen’s drift nets.
At one point there was serious fear that the species was headed toward extinction, but now it seems that conservation efforts have hailed the depletion of the population.