The rare yellow-eyed penguin , or hoiho, is one of New Zealands most iconic and beloved animals.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of tourists and visitors flock to the Otago Peninsula in Dunedin, New Zealand, to get a peek at the famed penguin, named for the band of bright yellow that runs from its eyes to the back of its head.

Its a high-profile species here, ecologist Thomas Mattern told HuffPost from Dunedin on Thursday. We even have it on our $5 bill .

The penguins are estimated to contribute about $70 million (or 100 million New Zealand dollars) to the local economy every year through tourism. At every airport in the country, youll find the yellow-eyed penguin on huge billboards, said Mattern, a researcher at the University of Otago. Its a huge draw.

But according to research recently published by Mattern and his colleagues, penguin enthusiasts may soon be disappointed when they visit the Otago Peninsula, located on the east coast of New Zealands South Island. The yellow-eyed penguin is in great peril on the peninsula and on the New Zealand mainland as a whole, researchers found. Climate change and other effects of human activity could drive the species extinct locally in just 40 years .

The population of yellow-eyed penguins on the Otago Peninsula has been falling precipitously over the past two decades. We used to have about 600 to 800 breeding pairs in the mid-1990s, but were now down to 200 to 250 breeding pairs, Mattern said. Thats a loss of 75 percent.

Rising ocean temperatures have been a major cause of this decline, according to the new paper, published in the journal Peer J earlier this month. Warming has reduced the amount of food available to the penguins, which feed off the ocean floor.

But climate change hasnt been the only culprit. By studying penguin population records dating back several decades, and using prediction models developed to estimate the effects of global warming and other threats to the species, Mattern and his colleagues found that while one-third of the population change was due to rising temperatures, the remaining two-thirds was linked to other human activities.

Data on these other threats is currently limited, but researchers believe the fishing industry may play a significant role. Gill nets used by fishermen are known to ensnare yellow-eyed penguins, which get entangled in the near-invisible nets and drown. A 2000 study that looked at autopsy data of 185 yellow-eyed penguins that died around South Island found that more than 70 deaths were linked to gill net entanglement.

The pollution of waterways from urban centers and also from farms in the area may also be a significant driver of penguin deaths. Theres some really bad stuff being flushed out of the sewer system into our rivers and seas, Mattern said.