The main prey species reported for Fiordland penguins are cephalopods (85%, mainly Arrow squid, Nototodarus sloanii), followed by crustaceans (13%, primarily Krill, Nyctiphanes australis) and fish (2%, mainly Red Cod and Hoki).
The alpine plants found here including Celmisia dallii occur as these peaks, along with Fiordland at the southern end of the island, were a high-altitude refuge from the effects of the last ice age.
The Milford Road section began in 1926 when a local Station Owner, started making his own road from Te Anau Downs Harbour south to the Te Anau Hotel, starting a project which turned into the most scenic highway in New Zealand including iconic landmarks the Mirror Lakes, the Avenue of Disappearing Mountain, Lake Gunn, the Key Summit, Mount Christina, Mount Talbot, the Homer Tunnel, The Chasm, Mount Tutoko and Mitre Peak.
The unit's first documentaries made were a series of six 15-minute programmes called Hidden Places which featured various New Zealand habitats, notably Okarito, White Island, Fiordland, Mackenzie Country and Sinclair Wetlands, near Dunedin.
Forested areas of Fiordland National Park generally are dominated by Nothofagus and podocarp species with understory of numerous ferns and shrubs; Crown Fern, Blechnum discolor is an example of chief understory species.
It is one of two species of New Zealand Skink found in the Fiordland region of the South Island that lives exclusively in the alpine zone, the other being the closely related and morphlogically similar Barrier skink, Oligosoma judgei.