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From our scientist, Hiltrun Ratz, PhD
scientist@penguins.org.nz 
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She is also back. She has featured many times here in Facebook land when she was sponsored as a chick and now she is back for the moult - in rehab.....no worries though, she will be fine. Soon she will be fat enough to be released back into the penguin colony ready to find a mate and start breeding later this year - fingers crossed!  This is the surviving chick raised by a sponsored female called Vivek (yes, we got the sex wrong in this one way back when she was a chick). It was this one's sibling that was killed by a predator and triggered our response of collecting all chicks from the colonies to keep them safe in our rehab facility. It was this one we feared for most as the predator could have come back for it. It's safe though and ready to be released.  This yellow-eyed penguin juvenile was sponsored as a chick last year and was one of the few that fledged naturally. She made it and has had a stint in rehab mid winter for a sore throat, and now she is back in residence for a top-up for her moult. She is so precious as she might start breeding later this year as a 2-year old. But first things first: got to get that yellow line across the back of the head first and that means moulting. She'll get fattened up on salmon and then released. Life is good when you know where they serve salmon!  This is the view our yellow-eyed penguin chicks are currently enjoying: they were old enough and fat enough to be promoted to this pen on the foreshore where they are fed once a day for a week. Then the door is opened and they are free to go - or not, if they don't want to. If they don't want to go there is another meal being delivered the next day. Most of them are keen to leave though: it must be the call of the big blue! Good luck, y'all, and come back if you have trouble!  This was a fortunate chick from last year who had a sponsor - and he is back!! Not quite fat enough for the moult so he is getting a wee top-up. Before we release "him" we will measure "his" head to see if indeed "he" is a "he"!! Jax could be a girl - we can't really tell for sure when they are chicks, but this is the chance we get to find out!  comes from a super-sponsored family: s/he is the chick of Anna and Stewie Junior and s/he hatched in Uncle Chang's box.  Odd Simen's chicks that was hatched and raised in a cave - and doing very well.  are Shannon's chicks and they were hatched in the Spitfire Rise nest box - so they are extra loved by our generous sponsors. Matty and Jo have decided not to sit in the same pen and are in neighbouring pens. They, too are almost ready to head into the soft-release pens in the colony.
is Lesley's chick and is doing well. Soon it will be time for the week in the soft-release pens and then it is the big blue.  This sponsored yellow-eyed penguin chick in our rehab facility is doing very well - and so is her father: we found him pre-moult and put him on the scales and he weighed almost 8kg. That is plenty heavy so he does not need a helping hand through the moult. It is a silver lining of raising the chicks in rehab: the parents have been on holiday since we took them and have been able to fatten up nicely without having to worry about feeding the chicks.  |
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