Landau, January 9, 2026. The Humboldt penguin population has declined sharply in recent years. The causes are bird flu H5N1 and El Niño, but according to Chilean authorities, (small-scale) fishing and destructive construction projects are also to blame. The controversial “Dominga” mining and port project by the Andes Iron company has the potential to cause significant damage to or destroy the most important breeding areas in northern Chile. The Andes Iron company and its “Dominga” project are currently entangled in another bribery scandal.

Landau, December 2, 2025

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+++InfoPoint Yerba Buena+++
In the municipality of La Higuera, an information point on the Humboldt Archipelago ecosystem has been opened. It is the first in the municipality. (see the article InfoPoint Yerba Buena – Opening", October 16 and "InfoPoint – Information", October 23).

Landau, December 5, 2025.

In recent years, the Humboldt penguin population has been reduced by environmental pressures such as climate change, overfishing, habitat destruction, and natural events to an extent that has not yet been fully clarified. In 2023, a large number of seabirds breeding in colonies in South America died from the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu. The extent to which Humboldt penguins were reduced by bird flu is unclear, as the dead birds were not examined. The El Niño of 2023/2024 was one of the strongest since records began. Due to a lack of food, Humboldt penguins were unable to breed in large parts of their range in 2023 and 2024.

Coquimbo, Landau, November 21, 2025. Since August, injured animals have been cared for at the marine animal rescue center in Coquimbo, northern Chile. The center is jointly run by the NGO Conservación Humboldt, the Universidad Católica del Norte-UCN (1), Sernapesca (2), and Sphenisco. The project is funded by Frankfurt Zoo, Halle Mountain Zoo, and Dresden Zoo. (See article “Renovation ... completed” from August 8).

La Higuera, October 28, 2025. The second literary competition, “El Archipiélago de Humboldt en 110 Palabras” (1), was officially launched at the Yerba Buena InfoPoint in the southern part of the Humboldt Archipelago (2). The competition is an initiative of the Fundación Sphenisco Chile. The project is supported by the municipality of La Higuera, international organizations such as Sphenisco e.V., the sponsors Rostock Zoo and Ouwehand Zoo Foundation (3), as well as national (4) and local organizations (5).

Landau, October 3, 2025

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+++ Scientists call for rejection of “Dominga” +++
Scientists from Chile and around the world conducting research in the Humboldt Archipelago have issued a statement urging the Chilean authorities to reject the “Dominga” mining and port project once and for all. The newspaper El Mostrador (1) reported on the statement on August 4, 2025 (see article “Scientists call for rejection ...” dated Septemb 2025 (see article “Scientists call for rejection ...” from September 18, 2025).

7th of August 2025

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+++Research Population, breeding success and foraging+++

In May and June, Dr Alejandro Simeone's team once again studied the population and foraging behaviour on several Chilean breeding islands. Thomas Mattern (University of Otago, New Zealand) led the foraging studies and reported on 15th of June: "After a few intense weeks, I have now returned to New Zealand from Chile. The first week and a half of my stay was difficult due to the weather, but in the following three weeks, the work picked up speed. ... Here is a brief summary:

Landau, 1st of June
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+++Population of Humboldt penguins+++
The last three breeding seasons have been cancelled due to a lack of food. El Niño and bird flu have reduced the Humboldt penguin population (see article ‘El Niño and ...’ from 25th of February 2025). It is only unclear how great the losses are. On 26th of May, researchers led by Dr Alexandro Simeone began to count breeding pairs again on the island of Pan de Azucar (1). Further counts are planned for June on the islands of Grande de Atacama, Ramada and Chañaral. In addition, GPS loggers and video cameras will again be used to investigate foraging behaviour on the islands of Choros and Chachagua, where breeding pairs will also be counted. Further counts are to be carried out on other important Chilean gross islands in October and November. The six-year research project is being funded by the Species Conservation Foundation of Karlsruhe Zoo, Dresden Zoo and the Hagenbeck Zoo Friends' Association.