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Story: Penguins

Erect-crested penguin

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Erect-crested penguin

Many sites where penguins nest do not offer the luxury of trees or even soil. The Bounty Islands (630 kilometres south-east of Banks Peninsula), where many erect-crested penguins breed, are bare granite rock. The best a penguin can do is lay the egg on a surface flat enough to stop it rolling away. Here, the parent is turning the egg to maintain an even temperature, then tucking it in against the brood pouch where insulating feathers can be parted, exposing a patch of skin that is well supplied with blood vessels that keeps the egg warm.

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Department of Conservation

Reference: 10056486

by Tui De Roy

Courtesy of Roving Tortoise Worldwide Nature Photography

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How to cite this page

Lloyd Spencer Davis, Penguins – Life on land, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/6389/erect-crested-penguin (accessed 25 June 2026).

Story by Lloyd Spencer Davis, published 2 March 2009.