Following the completion of the Erebus and Terror expedition, noted zoologists John Richardson and John Grey completed the Zoology of the Voyage. Amongst the species described in this volume was the Fiordland crested penguin. The penguin’s name is derived from Ancient Greek Eudyptes pachyrhynchas and translates as 'the thick-beaked good diver'. Oddly, the specimen on which Grey based his description of the species was not collected by the expedition but by an itinerant naturalist, Mr Percy Earl, at what is now Karitane in Otago, probably in December 1843.That specimen was sold to the British Museum in 1845.
From the British Admiralty to the Fiordland Penguin
05 November 2023
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Fiordland Crested-penguin (Eudyptes pachyrhynchus), known as Tawaki by Māori, is an endemic species of New Zealand penguin first described in the Zoology of the Erebus and Terror
Canterbury Museum, AV39646
This attractive Fiordland crested penguin, known as Tawaki in Māori, is one of four species of crested-penguin found in New Zealand. They breed along the southern part of the West Coast and nest in colonies in dense temperate forest. They are approximately 60 cm long, weigh on average 3.7 kg and mostly eat squid as well as crustaceans and fish. The population of the Fiordland crested penguin is thought to have declined by a third since the late 1980s and current population estimates range between 2,500-3,000 pairs. The population is under threat from introduced predators including dogs, cats, stoats and rats.
The Zoology of the Voyage of HMS Erebus and Terror was the result of the last British scientific expedition carried out under sail. The University of Canterbury’s copies record a wide-ranging collection of animals from the southern hemisphere. They include several species which are now extinct, including the two examples shown here: the Chatham Island Bellbird and the Laughing Owl, the latter drawn and lithographed by Joseph Wolf, a renowned nineteenth-century illustrator of birds. The University holds two copies of the Zoology, the first of which was formerly in the collection of the Canterbury Branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand; the second copy belonged to Canterbury Public Library before its rare books were transferred to the University of Canterbury's collection.
Want to know more?
Richard N. Holdaway, 'The Zoology of the Voyage of HMS Erebus & Terror', in Treasures of the University of Canterbury Library, ed. by Chris Jones & Bronwyn Matthews with Jennifer Clement (Christchurch: CUP, 2011)
Chatham Island Bellbird, Anthornis melanocephala - now extinct (left). Laughing owl, Sceloglaux albifacies - now extinct (right). The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Erebus & Terror, under the Command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross, R N , F R S, during the years 1839 to 1843, ed. by Sir John Richardson, John Edward Gray & George Robert Gray with additional material by John Edward Gray, Richard Bowdler Sharpe, Albert Günther, Edward J Miers, Arthur Gardiner Butler & Edgar Albert Smith, vol. 1: Mammalia, Birds; vol. 2: Reptiles, Fishes, Crustacea, Insects, Mollusca (London: E W Janson, 1875). University of Canterbury Library
