Bangka Terlangka In Hoiho World Wins Best Bird Award This Year

Hoiho or yellow-eyeed penguin. (Wikimedia Commons/Bernard Spragg)

JAKARTA - A yellow-edged PERSON, or hoiho has been named the Year's Best Bird in New Zealand for 2024, with 6,328 votes, making their second win in the popular annual competition.

Hoiho, considered the rarest penguin species in the world by competition organizer Forest and Bird, outperformed the black robins of Chatham Island and the bigo, which gained significant public support in the final week of voting.

This year's competition was simpler than last year, when a campaign broadcast on television by American-English comedian John Oliver backed puteteke drew a record-breaking number of voters from 195 countries.

Hoiho, which is a native bird of New Zealand, is estimated to have a population of between 4,000 and 5,000.

Although her Maori name means "the noisy screamman," this species is known for its difficult-to-be behavior and strong smell. This tragedy previously won the title in 2019.

Forest and Bird CEO Nicola Toki said the species was in critical condition.

"We have lost 78 percent of their population on land in just 15 years due to predators and climate change," he said.

The competition was attended by nearly 52,500 votes, reflecting the deep relationship between New Zealanders with their native birds, but far less than the more than 350.000 votes received last year after Oliver's campaign attracted the attention of the global audience.

"It's great to see us integrated with our national identity," said Toki.

With few ground predators for most of its history, New Zealand is home to more species of birds that cannot fly than anywhere else in the world, including iconic penguin, takahe and kiwi.