KEY POINTS:
Yellow-eyed penguins on the Otago Peninsula are getting stressed out by tourists. The popularity of the Sandfly Bay penguin colony, about 10km from Dunedin, means thousands of people a year seek out the shy birds.
Otago University zoology lecturer Philip Seddon says penguins at the easily accessible site do not breed as well as those in more remote sites and have high amounts of stress-induced hormone concentrations, suggesting they are suffering from the frequent intrusions.
