One of the world's rarest penguins has been named New Zealand's bird of the year, in an unusually quiet year for the contest, without foreign interference or past voting scandals.
The endangered Hoiho penguin is the largest species of penguin living on the New Zealand mainland and is characterised by a pale yellow band of feathers connecting each eye.
Hoiho, which means “noisy cryer” in Maori because of its high-pitched cry, live along the east coast of the South Island and in the sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands. This shy, fishy-smelling bird These species tend to inhabit native coastal forests, scrub forests, or dense flax forests.
Research suggests there are only about 4,000 to 5,000 left in the world. Maintenance DepartmentBut their numbers are declining. The number of birds breeding on the mainland has fallen 78 percent in the past 15 years, and by 18 percent last year alone, according to the report. Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust.
“This spotlight couldn't have come at a better time,” said Nicola Toki, chief executive of Forest and Bird, the environmental group that runs the annual competition.
“These iconic penguins are disappearing from mainland Aotearoa. [New Zealand] It appeared before our eyes.”
In a statement, the penguins said they were “being hit from all angles”, including disease, dog attacks and predation by invasive pests. The penguins' fishy smell is irresistible to dogs, who can detect it from far away.
Toki said the penguins were also drowning in set nets – weighted nets fixed to the sea floor – and struggling to find food, adding that marine protected areas were urgently needed to ensure the penguins' survival.
The Bird of the Year competition was launched in 2005 to raise awareness of the situation of many of New Zealand's native birds, many of which are threatened with extinction or already extinct due to pest introductions, human activities and habitat loss.
With bats and marine life being New Zealand's only native mammals, the spotlight is on New Zealand's beloved and rare bird species.
Over the years, the contest has been a magnet for scandal: in 2021 a bat was named the winner, but in 2019 allegations of Russian interference emerged, and in 2018 there were allegations that Australians tried to rig the contest to favour bats.
The two-week-long contest attracted more than 52,000 verified votes, a significant drop from the 2023 event, which saw votes jump to 350,000 across 195 countries after British-American comedian and talk show host John Oliver launched a global campaign for the endangered Puteketeke, a grunting, spitting bird with a repertoire of unusual mating rituals.
Oliver ran what he described as an “amazingly aggressive” campaign, buying up billboards in New Zealand, Japan, France, Britain, India and the US state of Wisconsin. A plane flying a Puteke Teke election flag even flew over the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
His efforts paid off and Puteketeke was crowned the 2023 winner.
Hoiho, who won with 6,328 votes, also attracted support from celebrities including conservationist Dr Jane Goodall, Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan and former prime ministers Helen Clark and Chris Hipkins, but the competition was a more “homegrown” event, said Forest & Bird's Ellen Rikers. RNZ.
This year, local activists used the usual methods to garner votes, from waging meme wars to getting tattoos to demonstrate their loyalty.
Hoiho's candidacy was run by a consortium of Dunedin's wildlife conservation organisations, museums, breweries and rugby teams, making it the strongest campaign in the 2024 polls.
Hoiho is the only bird to win the Bird of the Year twice, joining the kakapo, who won in 2008 and 2020.
The little Karule, a tiny “goth” black robin found only on New Zealand's Chatham Island, came in second, while the kakapo, the world's heaviest and longest-living parrot, came in third.
