A team of scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WSC), the CADIC-CONICET and Argentina’s National Parks Administration has discovered a new colony of Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) on a remote island in Argentina.
A Magellanic penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus) on a bluff on Isla de los Estados, Argentina. Image credit: Ulises Balza / Wildlife Conservation Society.
The Magellanic penguin is a medium-sized species of penguin that is found in South America.
The species breeds in coastal Patagonia, including Argentina, Chile and the Islas Malvinas, and in Brazil.
It is named after Ferdinand Magellan who saw the bird in 1519 on his first voyage around the tip of South America.
Magellanic penguins are 61-76 cm (24-30 inches) tall and weigh between 2.7 and 6.5 kg. Their black and white feathering is very dense, more than 70 feathers per square inch, with a waterproof coating of oil that keeps them warm.
The species is listed as Near Threatened on IUCN’s Red List, and the global population — estimated to be between 1.1 and 1.6 million pairs — is decreasing.
The main threats to the species are climate change, mortality from fishing gear entanglement, overfishing of prey species, petroleum pollution, egg collection, and unregulated ecotourism.
“Our team was incredibly excited to discover the new colony,” said Dr. Andrea Raya Rey, WCS associate researcher and staff at CADIC-CONICET.
“The more colonies we know exist, the more we can advocate for their protection.”
The new colony was found on the eastern side of Isla de los Estados at the southernmost end of the South American continent.
“We made the discovery while surveying a known colony of rockhopper penguins (Eudyptes sp.) — a different species — which we had been tracking by remote cameras for two years,” Dr. Raya Rey and colleagues explained.
“When we eventually accessed an unexplored area of the rockhopper colony, we discovered the telltale nesting burrows of Magellanic penguins hidden in tall grasses.”
“The exact number of Magellanic penguins remains unknown, but the perimeter of the new colony was defined, a census was conducted to estimate population size, and some blood samples have been taken from individuals to determine their health and diet.”
“The discovery adds to the growing list of 50-plus known colonies of Magellanic penguins. The largest colony is in the Punta Tombo Provincial Reserve, a protected area created in Argentina with the help of WCS more than 50 years ago.”
