Penguin eggs and young chicks are prime targets for kelp gulls, lesser grisons and large hairy armadillos. While on land, red foxes, gray foxes, pampas cats and pumas prey on older penguin chicks, juveniles, and adults. Sea dwelling predators, including giant petrels, South American sea lions and orcas, feed on fledglings, juveniles, and adults.
Known Predators:
Magellanic penguins' weights vary with the season. They tend to weigh the most directly prior to molt (which begins in March) since they are preparing to fast for the following few weeks. Males have a mean weight of 4.7 kg and females weigh a mean of 4.0 kg. The mean flipper length for males and females is 15.6 cm and 14.8 cm, respectively. The average beak length is 5.8 cm for males and 5.4 cm for females. Males and females have webbed feet that are, on average, 12.2 cm and 11.5 cm long, respectively. Adults and juveniles both have black bills, black backs, and white fronts. Adults have a symmetrical white band that originates at each eye, arches back on the sides of their heads, and comes together above their necks. Adults also have two black bands underneath their neck; juveniles only have one band. Juveniles display a range of white to dark gray patches on their cheeks. Juveniles have two layers of down before they develop their adult plumage.
Range mass: 2.5 to 7.5 kg.
Range length: 11.2 to 16.9 cm.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry
Sexual Dimorphism: sexes alike; male larger
Magellanic penguins live for an average of 25 to 30 years in the wild. Juvenile penguins suffer the highest mortality rate during their first pelagic migration, but annual survival slowly increases as they age. Causes of mortality for both juveniles and adults include predation, climatic variation, discarded human garbage, oil spills, and commercial fishing.
Typical lifespan
Status: wild: 25 to 30 years.
Magellanic penguins primarily inhabit temperate regions of South America, but during the non-breeding season may follow oceanic currents northward into more tropical latitudes. During the breeding season, Magellanic penguins nest on shoreline grassland habitats that provide adequate, shrubby vegetative cover, but are near the ocean so parents can easily forage. This species may also nest within burrows on cliff faces. When not breeding, Magellanic penguins live pelagic lifestyle and spend nearly all of their time off the southern coast of South America. Individuals typically travel anywhere from 100 to 1,000 km off shore. While at sea, this species has been recorded to dive to depths of up to 76.2 meters.
Range depth: 76.2 (high) m.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; terrestrial ; saltwater or marine
Aquatic Biomes: pelagic ; coastal
Magellanic penguins live and breed in the Neotropical region along the southern coast of South America. They are found from about 30°south in Chile to 40° north in Argentina, and the Falkland Islands. Some populations on the Atlantic coast migrate north up to the Tropic of Capricorn.
Biogeographic Regions: neotropical (Native )
Magellanic penguins are piscivores. While their basic diet consists mainly of pelagic fish, their particular choice of prey varies on where they reside. Penguins that inhabit northern colonies, such as San Lorenzo, Punca Clara, Punta Loberia, feed primarily on anchovies. In the southern colonies of Monte Leon and Punta Dungeness, penguins prey on squid (Loligo and Illex species), sprats and hagfish. They can dive more than 76.2 meters while hunting.
Animal Foods: fish; mollusks
Primary Diet: carnivore (Piscivore )
At all life stages, Magellenic penguins are a valuable food source for various terrestrial and aquatic animals. As predators themselves, Magellanic penguins keep local populations of small fish and squid balanced.
Magellanic penguins perform a variety of vocalizations and are able to discriminate between conspecific calls. Such calls include ecstatic display calls, mutual display calls, fight calls and contact calls. Males perform ecstatic display calls in the beginning of breeding season to attract a mate and during altercations with other males. These calls are described as "braying" for their similarity to the calls of donkeys. Both males and females use a mutual display call when they meet at their nest in the beginning of the breeding season and when they switch duties during incubation. Females respond more strongly to their mates' calls than to other male calls. The females stand up, look around and sometimes call back. Chicks can also discriminate between their parents' mutual calls and the mutual calls of another set of parents.
Mated pairs also use tactile and visual displays to communicate with each other and strengthen their bond. To show interest in a female, the male will walk circles around a potential mate and then pat her rapidly with his flippers. A mated pair will remain together for many years, and often perform mutual preening to uphold their bond.
Studies have suggested that penguins, in general, rely heavily upon their sense of sight to obtain food and navigate underwater. It has been suggested that these birds can see at least a portion of the ultraviolet spectrum. Study of the retina has also revealed that it lacks the ability to perceive the color red, and that they are very adept at perceiving blue or green spectra. This likely is connected to the fact that in the deep ocean, there is an abundance of blue and green coloration while red is rather rare. It has also been suggested that penguins' eyes are specially adapted to aquatic environments, as they share similar sensitivities with the eyes of fish.
Like most birds, Magellanic penguins perceive their environments through visual, tactile, auditory and chemical stimuli.
Communication Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic
Perception Channels: visual ; ultraviolet; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
When last assessed in 2010, the IUCN Red List categorized Magellanic penguins as near threatened. While an overall moderately rapid decrease is apparent, some smaller colonies of penguins have grown. During their annual migrations, penguins would often drift into shipping lanes and get oiled. However, changes to the Chubut provisional law moved the designated lanes to reduce oiling incidents. Magellanic penguins are also unintentionally caught in fishing nets and die as a result. Through commercial fishing humans are depleting populations of small fish which are a main component of Magellanic penguins' diets. The IUCN has proposed reducing by-catch of an anchovy fishery in Argentina and monitoring the effects on a penguin population in Punta Tombo as a possible solution.
CITES: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: near threatened
There are no known adverse effects of Spheniscus magellanicus on humans.
During their breeding season, magellanic penguins are popular tourist attractions. Over 100,000 people visit their nesting grounds at Punta Tombo each year. For a few years after 1982, this species became the target of human exploitation for their meat and skins, which were used to make gloves.
Positive Impacts: ecotourism
Magellanic penguins are a monogamous species that upholds their pair-bonds for many seasons. An unmated male attracts a mate first by calling, which is more accurately described as "braying" like a donkey. Once an interested female comes forward, the male will walk in a circle around her and eventually will rapidly pat her with his flippers. A breeding pair often performs mutual preening to uphold their pair-bond.
Male Magellanic penguins also fight each other for both nests and females. When males fight before females have laid eggs, the larger male typically wins. These winners are more likely to breed and thus have more chicks. The winners' nest sites tend to be more covered and protected from the elements as well. When fighting occurs after egg laying, the winner, regardless of size, is typically the owner of the nest that he is trying to protect.
Mating System: monogamous
Magellanic penguins nest close to shore. They prefer to build their nests under a bush, but will also dig burrows into substrate if necessary. They choose areas where the substrate is composed of small particles such as silt and clay and low amounts of sand. Magellanic penguins breed in dense colonies where nests may be only 123 to 253 cm apart. Adults will arrive at their breeding grounds in early September and lay two eggs in late October. The average annual reproductive success is 0.52 chicks per nest. The clutch hatches asymmetrically, and the first hatched generally is bigger and better able to obtain food from the parents. Thus, one chick typically dies from starvation unless there is an overabundance of food or the colony size is small. Eggs weigh 124.8 grams and are 7.5 cm long. The incubation period lasts for 40 to 42 days and the chick brooding period lasts from 24 to 29 days. The young fledge at 40 to 70 days old, typically during January to the beginning of March. Fledglings group together in creches and immediately take to the water, while adults remain on shore for several weeks to molt. Juvenile Magellanic penguins do not reproduce until 4 years of age.
Breeding interval: Magellanic penguins breed once every year after reaching maturity
Breeding season: The breeding season for Magellanic penguins occurs from September to February
Average eggs per season: 2.
Range time to hatching: 40 to 42 days.
Range fledging age: 40 to 70 days.
Range time to independence: 40 to 70 days.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 4 years.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 4 years.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; oviparous
Average eggs per season: 1.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
Sex: male: 1040 days.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
Sex: female: 1040 days.
Both male and female penguins defend their nest, eggs, and young. Once the clutch is laid, incubation duties are shared and initially each parent will perform a two-week long shift. Parents switch more frequently as the incubation period progresses. When the young hatch after 40 to 42 days, they are semi-altricial meaning they are downy, immobile, and completely dependent on their parents for food and temperature regulation. Parents continue to alternate incubating and foraging duties, and the young are fed through regurgitation. The young are constantly cared for and brooded for 24 to 29 days, after which the parents spend extended periods of time foraging and will return to the nest every 1 to 3 days. At 40 to 70 days old, the young fledge and immediately take to the water in large groups, or creches. Fledgling penguins do not receive further parental care, as the parents remain on shore to molt. Once the adults have fledged, mixed groups of juvenile and adult penguins migrate north to the wintering grounds.
Parental Investment: altricial ; male parental care ; female parental care ; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Male, Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Male, Female, Protecting: Male, Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Male, Female, Protecting: Male, Female)
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the helminth fauna in Spheniscus magellanicus using parasite population and community ecological parameters and relating these parameters to life aspects of the host species. The study was carried out with 237 specimens of S. magellanicus taken from the northern shore of the state of São Paulo (23°46’ S, 45°57’ O) and southern shore of the state of Rio de Janeiro (23°02’S, 44°13’O), Brazil. The helminth fauna of this penguin included the nematode Contracaecum pelagicum (core species), found in stomachs, the digenetic Cardiocephaloides physalis and the cestode Tetrabothrius lutzi (satellite species), both collected from the initial portion of the small intestine. Comparisons using the Shannon Diversity Index revealed that the parasite community in juvenile penguins is less diverse in the migratory season than the breeding season. The results demonstrate that parasitological studies on penguins and other migratory animals can provide important information on the species during the time in which they remain pelagic and constitute a useful tool for the acquisition of information that is difficult to obtain through other means, thereby favoring the conservation of the species.
In the present study, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) were determined in 25 livers from Magellanic penguins, Spheniscus magellanicus, found on the state of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). The following concentrations of POPs (wet weight) were found: ∑ PCBs: 18.9 to 775.8 ng g-1; ∑ DDTs: 2.3 to 275 ng g-1; and ∑ HCHs: 1.0 to 11.8 ng g-1. Among the PCBs, there was a predominance of hexachlorobiphenyls (138 and 153) and heptachlorobiphenyls (180 and 187). Among the organochlorines, DDT predominated. Through histopathologic exams a positive correlation was found between HCB and cardiovascular failure (p = 0.012), as HCB values (wet weight) were 6.33 to 96.49 ng g-1 for positive animals and 2.45 to 19.63 ng g-1 for negative animals. Studies on POPs in Magellan penguins contribute to a better understanding of the distribution and trends of these pollutants in the western South Atlantic Ocean.
The Magellanic penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus) is a South American penguin, breeding in coastal Patagonia, including Argentina, Chile, and the Falkland Islands, with some migrating to Brazil and Uruguay, where they are occasionally seen as far north as Espirito Santo. Vagrants have been found in El Salvador, the Avian Island in Antarctica, Australia, and New Zealand.[1] It is the most numerous of the Spheniscus banded penguins. Its nearest relatives are the African penguin, the Humboldt penguin, and the Galápagos penguins. The Magellanic penguin was named after Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who spotted the birds in 1520.[2] The species is listed as being of Least Concern by the IUCN.[1]
Magellanic penguins are medium-sized penguins which grow to be 61–76 cm (24–30 in) tall and weigh between 2.7 and 6.5 kg (6.0 and 14.3 lb).[3] The males are larger than the females, and the weight of both drops while the parents raise their young.
Adults have black backs and white abdomens. There are two black bands between the head and the breast, with the lower band shaped in an inverted horseshoe. The head is black with a broad white border that runs from behind the eye, around the black ear-coverts and chin, and joins at the throat. Chicks and younger penguins have grey-blue backs, with a more faded grey-blue colour on their chest. Magellanic penguins can live up to 25 years in the wild, but as much as 30 years in captivity. Captain Eo, a male Magellanic penguin at the San Francisco Zoo, died in 2022 at the age of 40.[4]
Young birds usually have a blotched pattern on their feet, which fades as they grow up into adulthood. By the time these birds reach about ten years of age, their feet usually become all black.
Like other species of penguins, the Magellanic penguin has very rigid wings used to swim under water.
Magellanic penguins feed in the water, preying on small pelagic fish, hagfish,[5] cuttlefish, squid, krill, and other crustaceans, and ingest sea water with their prey. Their salt-excreting gland rids the salt from their bodies. Adult penguins can regularly dive to depths of between 20 m to 50 m deep in order to forage for prey. During the breeding season males and females have similar foraging and diving patterns as well as diet composition, however bone tissue analysis suggests that diets diverge post-season when limitations imposed by chick rearing are removed.[6]
Magellanic penguins do not experience a severe shortage of food like the Galapagos penguins, because they have a consistent food supply being located on the Atlantic coast of South America. The presence of the large continental shelf in the Atlantic Ocean lets Magellanic penguins forage far from their breeding colony.[7]
Jellyfish including species in the genera Chrysaora and Cyanea were found to be actively sought-out food items, while they previously had been thought to be only accidentally ingested. Similar preferences were found in the Adélie penguin, yellow-eyed penguin and little penguin.[8]
Magellanic penguins travel in large groups when hunting for food. In the breeding season, these birds gather in large nesting colonies at the coasts of Argentina, southern Chile, and the Falkland Islands, which have a density of 20 nests per 100 m2. The breeding season begins with the arrival of adult Magellanic penguins at the breeding colonies in September and extends into late February and March when the chicks are mature enough to leave the colonies.[6] One of the largest of these colonies is located at Punta Tombo.[9] Nests are built under bushes or in burrows. Two eggs are laid. Incubation lasts 39–42 days, a task which the parents share in 10- to 15-day shifts. The chicks are cared for by both parents for 29 days and are fed every two to three days. Normally, both are raised through adulthood, though occasionally only one chick is raised. A successful Magellanic is considered to be able to raise 0.7 chicks on average per breeding season.[10]
Magellanic penguins lay eggs in warm places where the temperature remains over 20 °C.
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The male and female penguins take turns hatching, as they forage far away from their nests. The males return from the sea on the day the second egg is laid to take their turn incubating[11] The second eggs are generally larger and with higher temperature than the first egg. The first one is more likely to survive, but under some conditions both chicks may be raised successfully. Male and female Magellanic penguins overlap in the at-sea areas they use whilst foraging, and show only small difference in foraging behaviours during early chick-rearing.[12]
Magellanic penguins mate with the same partner year after year. The male reclaims his burrow from the previous year and waits to reconnect with his female partner. The females are able to recognize their mates through their call alone.
Once the breeding season is complete, Magellanic penguins migrate north for the winter, where they feed in waters offshore from Peru and Brazil.[13]
The species is classified as Least Concern and decreasing.[1]
Magellanic penguin populations face various pressures, including exposure to reported and unreported oil spills, changes in prey availability and climate change. Natural predation occurs by sea lions, giant petrels, and leopard seals which prey on the chicks. The warrah preyed on the penguin prior to its extinction. Its major predator, however, is the puma, which can also take adults; penguins constitute the majority of prey items in puma diet in Patagonia's Bosques Petrificados de Jaramillo National Park and Monte León National Park.[14]
Human interactions can also cause stress to penguin chicks. Newly hatched chicks that are visited by tourists show a stress response, with elevated levels of corticosterone in their blood. The elevated corticosterone is detrimental to the development of muscle strength, growth, and immune function.[15]
Large breeding colonies are vulnerable to oil spills, which kill 20,000 adults and 22,000 juveniles every year off the coast of Argentina.[16] Chronic pollution by unreported oil discharges made at sea by international shipping is a persistent problem, particularly in the Strait of Magellan.
In Chile, the species is also exposed to oil spills from shipping. Chilean oil spills impacting penguins include spills from the Napier (1973) the VLCC Metula (1974), the Jose Fuchs (2001) and the tanker Berge Nice (2004). The species is also exposed to spills which occur in other countries as penguins follow their annual migratory paths. In 2008, at least 72 Magellanic penguins were oiled and killed near Montevideo, Uruguay after a spill from the oil tanker Syros.[17] After the event, oiled penguins were also found in Brazil, along with others in weakened or malnourished condition, which prompted speculation about the Uruguayan oil spill's impact on prey availability.[18]
Exposure to oil can reduce penguins' immunity and make them vulnerable to fungus, bacteria and lung problems.[19]
Zoo representatives from around the world have adopted Magellanic penguin hatchlings and bred them in captivity, which serves to build insurance populations (though these animals are unable to participate in seasonal migration events or forage for prey, unlike wild populations).
Climate change has displaced fish populations, causing some Magellanic penguins to swim an extra 40 km (25 miles) further from their nests to catch fish. While the penguins are swimming an extra 80 km (50 miles), their mates are sitting on a nest, unable to feed. A colony being tracked by University of Washington professor P. Dee Boersma, about 1,600 km (1,000 miles) south of Buenos Aires, has fallen by more than 20 percent in the past 22 years, leaving 200,000 breeding pairs. Some younger penguins are now moving their breeding colonies north to be closer to fish, but, in some cases, this is putting them on private, unprotected lands. As a result of these changes, some penguins are known to have been lost or confused.[20] At present, 12 of 17 penguin species are experiencing rapid population declines. A recent study of professor Dee Boersma showed that an increase of rainstorms caused by climate change affecting weather patterns has had a large impact in the chicks' population. The chicks haven't yet grown waterproof feathers so they are more likely to die of hypothermia when they get wet during big storms.[21]
Increased frequency of extreme events, such as storms, drought, temperature extremes, and wildfires, associated with climate change, increases the reproductive failure in Magellanic penguins.[22]
In 2008, over 400 penguins were found dead on Rio de Janeiro beaches. That year, 100 had also been received by the Niteroi Zoo in an oiled condition and in need of treatment.[19]
In 2010, 550 penguins were found on Brazil's coastline. They were believed to have starved to death.[23] In June 2012, higher numbers were recorded, with 742 Magellanic penguins discovered in a decomposed state on the shores of Brazil. The causes of death were investigated.[24] The birds were young and "natural causes" were assumed.[23] Prior to 2010, only roughly 10 dead penguins would be expected to be found ashore in a typical year.[25]
In early March 2022, 115 penguins were found dead in the coast next to Toltén River, southern Chile.[26][27] Besides the penguins 104 white-chinned petrel, five guanay cormorant, one Chilean dolphin and one South American sea lion were found dead.[26][27]
The provincial government of Chubut is committed to the creation of a Marine protected area in order to protect the penguins and other marine species near the largest Magellanic breeding colony. The creation of a MPA would likely improve the breeding success of the colonies as well as increase prey availability, reduce foraging distance, and increase feeding frequency.[10]
The Magellanic penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus) is a South American penguin, breeding in coastal Patagonia, including Argentina, Chile, and the Falkland Islands, with some migrating to Brazil and Uruguay, where they are occasionally seen as far north as Espirito Santo. Vagrants have been found in El Salvador, the Avian Island in Antarctica, Australia, and New Zealand. It is the most numerous of the Spheniscus banded penguins. Its nearest relatives are the African penguin, the Humboldt penguin, and the Galápagos penguins. The Magellanic penguin was named after Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who spotted the birds in 1520. The species is listed as being of Least Concern by the IUCN.
