Certificates

Nelly and Bronwen

Our yellow-eyed penguin habitat explanation:

*Wooden inland fence to keep predators out.
*Poison on other side of fence to keep predators out.
*Gate only for Department of Conservation.
*A sign for dog owners telling them to keep dogs on a lead.
*A hole for security cameras.
*Man made nests about 5 meters apart.
*Secret code for the gate to open.
*Every breeding area looks like this.

Yellow eyed penguin chicks hatch in 45 days.
Each penguin has a different voice.
Skuas are fierce birds that rob penguin’s nests for eggs.
Maori people called the penguin hoiho because it means noisy shouter.
Hoiho are only found in the bottom of the South Island on the East Coast.
An adult can grow 60-65cm tall.
Penguins get caught in fishing nets and rubbish.
It is the largest inland penguin.
It has a distinctive yellow eye and a yellow band around its head.
The chicks have no yellow band but they have a grey eye.
They feed on small fish and squid.
They breed from September to December.
They lay 2 white eggs the size of 3 chicken eggs.

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Our yellow-eyed penguin reserve is placed at the top of New Zealand.

This is how it works. You go to the shop buy a souvenir, then buy a press pass for $1.00 then you can go for a tour or go to the lookout.

There plastic mesh is so no predators or people can attack them. They need a free habitat to roam around in. There is some shrub on the left hand side but we thought we would leave it out because it's not the main part of the picture. It is a safe new modern habitat for yellow-eyed penguins.

By Nelly, Cheyenne, Bronwyn and Grace, Room O Manchester Street School

Dear DOC,

We were wondering if you could ask farmers if they could give up some of their land so the YEPs can keep safe. We hope that D.O.C could ask the
farmers to put up a wooden plank fence with no gaps. We want the fence to be three feet tall so animals can not get over.

By Jethro and Cheyenne.

It's good work but it's not clear from the design of the the fence that it would keep predators out. I would l look at some of the eco-sanctuary predator proof fences for ideas.

As well as setting poison, I would suggest you set traps as well.

Even dogs on a lead are dangerous. Dogs should not be not allowed any where near penguins.

If the fence is good enough you won't need a camera. Perhaps adding an electric wire that alerts to breakages in the fence (generally cased by falling trees rather than humans) would be good.

You need to add plantings for shade. Shade is desirable around the nesting boxes to reduce the heat. Penguins get heat stress.

There is some debate about the need to restore coastal forest for YEP breeding but your forest would benefit other species eg forest birds, invertebrates and lizards.

YEPs are actually found from Banks Peninsula near Christchurch to Curio Bay on the East Coast of the South Island.

What does inland mean?

YEPs breed from September to February.

Dear Nelly, Cheyenne, Bronwyn and Grace,

Your shop looks very nice and would be good for tourists, but don't forget your design for an improved habitat needs to take in the views of all the different groups involved with the penguin habitat such as a dog, a tourist/photographer,a sea lion, a local hoon,your own point of view, a farmer, the Department of Conservation, a fisherman and the yellow-eyed penguin's point of view.

Why not play a game where each of you is a person from a different group? Each of you says what they want to have eg Dog - 'I want to run on the beach without a lead'. Tourist - 'I want to get as close to the penguins to get the best picture'.

When you have each groups point of view ask the penguins. Penguin -' I want to safely leave the water and return to my burrow'.

Then you put together all the information and try to design a habitat that pleases everybody - especially the penguins. See: www.megabright.co.nz/YEP/home.html
Your design has thought about the tourist - but not all the others:

• The penguins would get caught in the plastic netting and couldn't get through to their nest sites - up to a kilometre inland from the sea.

• Did you know yellow-eyed penguins could not live at the top of New Zealand as it would be too hot for them?

• How can the tourists see the penguins, the dogs get exercise, the hoons be kept away etc and the penguins thrive and have babies - THAT is your challenge.

Its a good start - now add all the other things you need.

Sue Barker - DOC

Wade from Manchester Street School has an idea for farmers and D.O.C.

Dear Farmer Brown,

This is a letter because the yellow-eyed penguin is on the brink of extinction. So, we would like to sign a treaty with you. This means if you give up some land. We will pay you $50 a month for the lease of your land.

Terms and Conditions

You get the money. We get the safety of the yellow-eyed penguin and they get a home. We will keep the penguins from moving further into your farm area.

Wade's slideshow

Hello Wade -

An interesting idea. You obviously want a win-win situation where everyone gets the something good out of helping the penguins.

A couple of questions :

Where will you get the $50 a month from?

How will you stop the penguins progressing further into the farmer's land?

Another type of agreement is a Memorandum of Understanding - which means you write down what everyone agrees to - but there is no money involved.

Perhaps your farmer will agree to that if he understands how special the Penguins are.

Sue Barker - DOC

Click here to see Cheyenne's slideshow about YEPs nesting.

Thank you for sharing your slideshows with us.

I hope you have learned a lot about yellow-eyed penguins while you were making the slideshows.

You have covered many of the stages of the penguin’ yearly cycle such as how they build their nests. It is interesting reading about how well the chicks are camouflaged in their nests.  You will know now why it is necessary with so many predators about.

Nelly's photo story video

You are right, the YEPs do like to nest out of sight of other pairs.  They also walk long distances back to their nests after they have been in the sea foraging.

Where did you all get the photos of the penguins from?

Grace's slideshow

Jayden's YEP information

Shauna's slideshow

This is a story about how to keep dogs away from yellow-eyed penguins

I think we could put signs up at beaches that have yellow-eyed penguins on them that say: Keep your dog on its lead - in this part of the beach we would like to save the yellow-eyed penguin.

Or: Put a muzzle on your dog when its in the water and thank you for helping.

Click here for Shauna's restoration plan

Hello Shauna,

This is a lovely graphic you have designed for your slideshow.

The penguins do need help but the best way to help them is to keep dogs right away from them in and out of the water.

Dogs just love the smell of penguins. They can't help themselves.

It would be better to have signs on the beaches saying 'keep dogs out'.

I'm Hayley and I am I am nine years old. This is my yellow eyed penguin video I made. I hope you like it. :-) It has no copyright and no blurry pictures.

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