The Chatham penguin (''Eudyptes warhami''), also known as the Chatham crested penguin, Chatham Islands penguin, or Warham's penguin, is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

species of crested penguin previously

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the

Chatham Islands The Chatham Islands ( ; Moriori language, Moriori: , 'Misty Sun'; ) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island, administered as part of New Zealand, and consisting of about 10 islands within an approxima ...

of New Zealand. It is known only from subfossil bones and probably became extinct within 150–200 years after

Polynesians Polynesians are an ethnolinguistic group comprising closely related ethnic groups native to Polynesia, which encompasses the islands within the Polynesian Triangle in the Pacific Ocean. They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island Sout ...

arrived in the Chatham Islands around 1500 CE.

Discovery and description

Bones of crested penguins (genus '' Eudyptes'') have been recorded from subfossil deposits on main

Chatham Island Chatham Island ( ) ( Moriori: , 'Misty Sun'; ) is the largest island of the Chatham Islands group, in the south Pacific Ocean off the eastern coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is said to be "halfway between the equator and the pole, a ...

for years. They had been identified as

Fiordland Fiordland (, "The Pit of Tattooing", and also translated as "the Shadowlands"), is a non-administrative geographical region of New Zealand in the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the western third of Southland. Most of F ...

or erect-crested penguins, but Tennyson and Millener noted in 1994 they differed from both those species, and probably represented a species of crested penguin

to the Chatham Islands. It was referred to as the "Chatham Island crested penguin", but not formally described and named. As part of a study of the recent evolution of numerous penguin species, subfossil bones from Chatham Island and the mainland had

mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the D ...

fully extracted, sequenced, and compared to other species of ''Eudyptes''. The Chatham bones differed sufficiently in their DNA to support the penguin's identity as a truly distinct species, and it was formally described in 2019 and named ''E. warhami'', after John Warham, a pioneering researcher in penguin biology. Based on a comparison of mitochondrial genomes, this species diverged from its closest relative, the erect-crested penguin of the

Antipodes Islands The Antipodes Islands (, ) are inhospitable and uninhabited volcanic islands in subantarctic waters to the south of – and territorially part of – New Zealand. The archipelago lies to the southeast of Stewart Island / Rakiura, and to the ...

, between 1.1 and 2.5 million years ago. This corresponds to the emergence of the Chatham Islands from the sea about 3 million years ago.

Range

The Chatham penguin was endemic to the Chatham Islands. Bones of the Chatham penguin have been identified from various subfossil and archaeological sites on mainland New Zealand, including the

Wairarapa The Wairarapa (; ), a geographical region of New Zealand, lies in the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke's Bay Region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service t ...

, Banks Peninsula, Marlborough, and Paekākāriki areas. These likely represent stray birds from the Chatham islands arriving on the mainland, not breeding populations. Similarly, the erect-crested penguin was among the subfossil ''Eudyptes'' bones from the Chatham Islands, which also likely represent strays.

Extinction

The Chatham Islands were settled by

around 1500 CE, and the Chatham penguin was probably hunted to extinction within 150–200 years along with many other bird species and one species of sea lion. It was almost certainly extinct before Europeans arrived to the Chatham Islands. There has been a suggestion, however, the species persisted as recently as the late 19th century, because a crested penguin from the Chathams is recorded as being kept captive for several weeks around 1871 or 1872. Its species was noted as "''Eudyptes pachyrhynchus''", the modern

scientific name In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

for the Fiordland penguin. At the time, the name could also refer to the Snares penguin (''E. robustus'') and the erect-crested penguin (''E. sclateri''). Crested penguin species are in fact regular, possibly even annual, visitors to the Chatham Islands. At least three species are recorded from there: Snares penguins, erect-crested penguins, and a member of the rockhopper penguin group. The captured bird was likely one of these three.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3206559 warhami Extinct penguins Extinct birds of the Chatham Islands Late Quaternary prehistoric birds Bird extinctions since 1500 Birds described in 2019 Species made extinct by human activities