CreatureData

Snares penguin

Eudyptes robustus Oliver, 1953

VUVulnerablepenguins

The snares penguin (Eudyptes robustus) is a species in the family Spheniscidae, order Sphenisciformes. Recorded adults weigh 3.04 kg to 3.74 kg and live up to 5.42 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Vulnerable.

Snares penguin (Eudyptes robustus)
Photo: Thomas Mattern · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the snares penguin

Weight
3.04 kg – 3.74 kgsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
5.42 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
marinesrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
33.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
2src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity
5 years – 6.5 yearssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year
1src for Litters or clutches a year
Lifestyle
Aquaticsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Partialsrc for Migration
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

Where does the snares penguin live?

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

The snares penguin is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Why a country list is not a range map

Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

What is the snares penguin?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The Snares penguin (Eudyptes robustus; Māori: Pokotiwha), also known as the Snares crested penguin and the Snares Islands penguin, is a penguin from New Zealand. The species breeds on the Snares Islands, a group of islands off the southern coast of the South Island. It is a yellow-crested penguin, with a size of 50–70 cm (19.5–27.5 in) and a weight of 2.5–4 kg (5.5–8.8 lb). It has dark blue-black upper parts and white underparts. It has a bright yellow eyebrow-stripe which extends over the eye to form a drooping, bushy crest. It has bare pink skin at the base of its large red-brown bill.

The species nests in colonies ranging in size from around 10 nests to around 1200, under forest cover or the open. The main colonies are located on North East Island; other colonies are established on Broughton Island as well as the rocky Western Chain.

The Snares penguin's main prey is krill, supplemented by squid and small fish. The species is rated as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as its breeding range is restricted to one small island group. The population is estimated at around 25,000 breeding pairs.

From the Wikipedia article “Snares penguin” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Snares_penguin&oldid=1353120335), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the snares penguin endangered?

The snares penguin is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List: it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Vulnerable species. What the categories mean.

How is the snares penguin classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderSphenisciformes
  5. familySpheniscidae
  6. genusEudyptes
  7. SpeciesEudyptes robustus Oliver, 1953

Synonyms Eudyptes atrata, Eudyptes pachyrhynchus robustus

Other names and names in other languages (45)
  • Snares crested penguinEnglish
  • Snares crested penguinEnglish
  • Snares island penguinEnglish
  • Snares Islands penguinEnglish
  • Snares Islands penguinEnglish
  • بطريق سنارArabic
  • بطريق جزر سنارArabic
  • بطريق سنار المتوجArabic
  • Снеърски пингвинBulgarian
  • pingüí de les SnaresCatalan
  • tučňák snarskýCzech
  • pengwin Ynys SnaresWelsh
  • SnarespingvinDanish
  • SnarespinguinGerman
  • Snares-DickschnabelpinguinGerman
  • Snares-PinguinGerman
  • SnaresinselpinguinGerman
  • snarinsula pingvenoEsperanto
  • Pingüino de las SnaresSpanish
  • Pingüino de SnaresSpanish
  • snaresi kõrvukpingviinEstonian
  • snaressaartenpingviiniFinnish
  • Gorfou des SnaresFrench
  • snerski pingvinCroatian
  • snares-szigeti pingvinHungarian
  • Pinguino delle SnaresItalian
  • Eudipte delle isole SnaresItalian
  • ハシブトペンギンJapanese
  • didysis kuoduotasis pingvinasLithuanian
  • PokotiwhaMāori
  • Grote kuifpinguïnDutch
  • snare-kuifpinguïnDutch
  • SnareskuifpinguïnDutch
  • pingwin grzebieniastyPolish
  • pinguim-das-snaresPortuguese
  • Снарский пингвинRussian
  • Златохохлый снарский пингвинRussian
  • Снэрский хохлатый пингвинRussian
  • tučniak žltobrvýSlovak
  • Pingvin sa Snerskih ostrvaSerbian
  • Snares adasi pengueniTurkish
  • пінгвін великийUkrainian
  • Пінгвін снерськийUkrainian
  • 誘惑企鵝Chinese
  • 斯岛黄眉企鹅Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the snares penguin

Other species in the same genus Eudyptes.

CompareSnares penguin vs Macaroni penguinSnares penguin vs Royal penguinSnares penguin vs Western rockhopper penguinSnares penguin vs Fiordland penguin

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the snares penguin?

An adult snares penguin weighs 3.04 kg – 3.74 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the snares penguin live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the snares penguin for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the snares penguin endangered?

The snares penguin is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.

How long does the snares penguin live?

The snares penguin has a recorded lifespan of 5.42 years.

What kind of animal is the snares penguin?

The snares penguin (Eudyptes robustus) belongs to the family Spheniscidae in the order Sphenisciformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Snares penguin (Eudyptes robustus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/snares-penguin

MLA

“Snares penguin (Eudyptes robustus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/snares-penguin.

BibTeX
@misc{snares_penguin_2026,
  title = {Snares penguin (Eudyptes robustus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/snares-penguin},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}