Mistakenly called 'the world's rarest penguin', Yellow-eyed Penguins have a total population of about 5000 individuals. Far rarer are the Galapagos Penguin (about 2000 individuals), and the Fiordland Crested Penguin.
Yellow-eyed Penguins are about 65cm in length and are the only penguins with a yellow iris. However, the yellow plummage that forms a band around the head of adult penguins is perhaps the most obvious feature that people notice when they first see this species.
Yellow-eyed Penguins are entirely confined to New Zealand, living on Campbell and Auckland Islands as well as Stewart Island and the Southland, Otago and Canterbury coasts as far north as Banks Peninsula.