Species: Yellow-eyed penguin, hoiho (Megadyptes antipodes)
Location: New Zealand
Status: Endemic native species, endangered
Yellow-eyed penguins are endangered and declining, but knowledge of the isolated Sub-Antarctic populations was data-deficient due to the challenging terrain. The researcher needed to locate cryptic forest-nesting yellow-eyed penguins in thick sub-Antarctic vegetation, but ground-tracking methods were prohibitively slow.
Altitude Conservation’s Multi-Track Drone Ranger system significantly improved tracking, searching 7 times faster than traditional ground searching and finding up to 66 times more individuals in the same amount of time. This enhanced the speed and efficiency of finding nests, freeing up considerable time to allow breeding monitoring and other research to happen during the limited field season, and provided better data for conservation management and decision-making.
