Hiltrun Ratz is pleased to finally see a chubby young penguin. And so she should be, as a record-sized little penguin foreshadows a healthy breeding season after mass starvation among the species in Dunedin last season. Among them was a girthy 1.48kg chick which is the heaviest Pukekura Trust scientist Dr Ratz has found since she began working there almost four years ago. Pukekura Trust scientist Hiltrun Ratz holds a record-breakingly large penguin at Pilots Beach yesterday. The Pukekura Trust, which manages the beach, is an alliance of local iwi in the form of the Korako Karetai Trust, and the Otago Peninsula Trust.

Source: Otago Daily Times December 02, 2019 15:33 UTC