News

Endangered or highly endangered? – 3rd breeding season in a row has (largely) failed

Landau 24th of November 2024

Since the end of 2021, researchers Dr. Alejandro Simeone (1), Guillermo Luna-Jorquera (2), Dr. Ursula Ellenberg (3) and Dr. Thomas Mattern (4) have been studying the population, breeding success and foraging of Humboldt penguins in Chile on behalf of Sphenisco. As part of the 6-year research project, which is funded by the Species Conservation Foundation of Karlsruhe Zoo, Dresden Zoo and the Friends of Hagenbeck Zoo, the number of breeding pairs on the 10 most important breeding islands was also counted in 2021/2022. Dr. Simeone and his team found a total of 2,511 breeding pairs, i.e. 5,022 individuals.

Table: Humboldt penguin colonies included in the study and the size of their breeding populations, north-central Chile (26°-33°S).

Colony

Location

Area
(ha)

Day of the
Census

No. of active
Nests

Island Pan de Azúcar

26° 09' S; 70° 41' W

103

29-30/10/2021

162

Islet Ramadas

27° 00' S; 70° 48' W

14

27/10/2021

35

Island Chañaral

29° 02' S; 71° 34' W

516

30/11-02/12/2021

161

Island Choros

29° 16' S; 71° 32' W

301

04-06/12/2021

381

Island Chungungo

29° 24' S; 71° 21' W

15

18/12/2022

65

Island Tilgo

29° 32' S; 71° 20' W

45

03-04/11/2021

571

Island Pájaros 1

29° 35' S; 71° 32' W

124

14-15/12/2022

335

Island Huevos

31° 54' S; 71° 31' W

9

20/12/2022

10

Island Cachagua

32° 35' S; 71° 27' W

5

24/10/2022

729

Islet Pájaro Niño

33° 21' S; 71° 41' W

3

07/10/2022

62

Total

 

 

 

2.511

 

As planned, the researchers began to count breeding pairs on the main islands again at the end of October 2024. They found 4 pairs (-158) on the island of Pan de Azucar, 1 pair (-34) on Ramadas, very few pairs (approx. -158 and approx. -327) on Chañaral and Choros, 265 (-464) on Cachagua, 20 (-42) on Pájaro Niño, 8 (minus unknown) on Grande and 50 (-520) on Tilgo. As only a few penguins were breeding, the count was aborted. The researchers plan to count again when oceanic conditions are favorable.

The situation on the Ballestas Islands in Peru is similar. There, a total of 27 pairs were counted in the 3 sub-colonies, of which 17 pairs were breeding. This corresponds to a decrease of 50 breeding pairs compared to the 2022 survey. A total of 57 adult penguins (minus 77 compared to 2022) were present on the Ballestas Islands.

Due to the El Niño climate phenomenon, the 3rd breeding season in a row has largely been canceled. In an interview at the beginning of November, Dr. Simeone explained that “the oceanic conditions have not developed as expected. The surface water is still too warm and there is still a lack of food for Humboldt penguins and other seabirds. It is unclear when there will be enough plankton and forage fish such as the anchoveta (Peruvian anchovy) will return.” Dr. Simeone hopes that this will soon be the case.

It is to be feared that the risk of extinction of the Humboldt penguins will have to be reassessed and the endangerment level corrected from “vulnerable” to “endangered”. Only new censuses in Chile and Peru will clarify whether the risk of extinction has actually increased.

W. K.

note
(1) Dr. Alejandro Simeone is a marine biologist who teaches and conducts research at the Faculty of Life Sciences of the Andrés Bello University in Santiago, Chile.
(2) Dr. Guillermo Luna-Jorquwera is a marine biologist who teaches and researches at the University Católica del Norte, Center for Ecology and Sustainable Management of the Ocean Islands in Coquimbo, Chile.
(3) Dr. Ursula Ellenberg is an ecologist with experience in terrestrial and marine systems. She teaches and researches at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
(4) Dr. Thomas Mattern is a marine biologist with a focus on behavioral research of penguins and other seabirds. He teaches and researches at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.

translated by Claudia Fawer

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