Uncovering the secrets of New Zealand’s elusive ‘jungle penguins’ — SkimNews
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- Tawaki Project researchers mapped 93 nests across two Fiordland islands in September, bringing the project's 12-year total to 1,200 nests across nine fjords — roughly triple the population size earlier surveys suggested.
- Dr Thomas Mattern and his wife Ursula Ellenberg founded the volunteer research initiative in 2014, producing the first long-term population counts for the species.
- Fiordland tawaki break the penguin mould by nesting in single burrows deep in dense rainforest — sometimes at high elevation — earning Mattern's description of them as "proper jungle penguins."
- Tawaki penguins travel 5,000–7,000km to the sub-Antarctic to feed before their annual catastrophic moult, despite abundant food near the fjords in December, a journey Mattern says "makes absolutely zero sense."
- The IUCN Red List moved tawaki from "vulnerable" to "near-threatened" in 2020 after the project clarified the population, estimated at 12,000 to 15,000 mature birds.
- Commercial fishing remains an outstanding threat; Mattern's team is now analyzing survival rates to determine whether the population is truly stable.
Why it matters: The 12-year mapping tripled earlier population estimates, prompting the IUCN to downgrade tawaki from "vulnerable" to "near-threatened" in 2020. But Mattern's team is still tracking survival rates against commercial fishing pressure, meaning conservation status could shift again depending on what the next round of data shows. Roughly 12,000 to 15,000 mature birds hang in the balance.
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