Adopted!
Dear Ray
You have been enrolled under our penguin adoption programme for a period of three years by Hanya Poczynok, and your penguin has been given the name Krogoth.
Your adopted penguin is a Magellanic penguin, a species which is only found around southern South America. Each year we monitor population changes at selected breeding sites in Chile, Argentina and the Falklands, and money raised through our penguin adoption programme helps to pay for this work.
At the beginning of each breeding season we visit our selected study sites and examine each and every burrow to see how many breeding pairs are in the colony. This allows us to record any population changes, since Magellanic penguins return to the same colony to breed each year. This work has revealed an 85% population decline over the last 12 years in the Falkland Islands, whilst populations in nearby Chile and Argentina have increased.
As well as population counts, we also monitor all our adopted penguins throughout the season, in order to see how many eggs hatch, and how many chicks survive. By monitoring penguins over a number of years we are able to spot differences in breeding success, and find the causes of population decline.
These studies have shown that in the Falkland Islands, breeding success is much lower than in nearby Chile and Argentina, due to chick starvation in the Falklands. Chick survival in the Falklands is less than half that of Chile and Argentina because commercial fishing around the Falklands makes it hard for penguins to find food for their chicks.
In Chile and Argentina, where commercial fishing is banned close to penguin colonies, chicks are fed every 12 to 14 hours. In the Falklands, where there is no such protection from commercial fishing, chicks are fed every 34 hours. The lower abundance of food resulting from commercial fishing means that adult penguins must spend over twice as long finding food to feed their chicks in the Falklands. As a result, chicks in the Falklands receive less than half the amount of food, so few chicks survive, leading to population decline.
In September 2000, members of the International Penguin Conservation Work Group passed a resolution calling for no-fishing zones around penguin breeding sites in the Falkland Islands, as has been done in Chile and Argentina. Unfortunately the Falkland Islands Government have refused to honour this, despite the decline in penguin numbers.
Another potential threat to penguins is tourism, however our studies into the effects of tourism show no differences in breeding success for sites visited by tourists and those which are not. This is good news for anyone thinking of visiting their penguin. They can be confident that their visit will not cause disturbance, and that we are monitoring the affects of tourism on penguins.
Our adoption programme runs for one year, although of course it can be renewed each year to follow the same penguin. Magellanic penguins arrive at the breeding sites in September, which is when we begin our monitoring work. Eggs are laid during October, and chicks hatch during December. Chicks leave in February, but adults that have reared young remain around the breeding site until April.
Between April and September, Magellanic penguins remain entirely at sea, migrating northwards up the coast of Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, where the austral winter offers longer hours of daylight and warmer waters.
I attach a few photographs of our study colony birds, because your actual penguin needs to be selected, and its burrow marked with its name, before we can send you photos of your own penguin. As soon as this happens, you will be sent photographs of your adopted penguin, its nest, and a map showing the location of its burrow in case you wish to visit.
Throughout the breeding season you will be kept updated as to how your penguin is doing - when the eggs are laid, when they hatch, and how the chicks fare. We will also send you photos of any chicks.
I would like to take this opportunity to address an increasing problem with sending email. Spam has become an increasing problem each year, but worst still is the recent boom in spam filters, none of which are totally reliable, causing genuine email to be deleted.
Please ensure that you do not have spam filters which might prevent our emails reaching you (eg. works firewalls, Yahoo's Spamguard, etc.). Spam filters often delete our emails because of the attachments we send, such as the photos, leaving adoptees thinking we haven't written.
We would also like to remind you of our promise that we NEVER pass on email addresses to anybody else, and never use them for any other purpose than for sending out penguin reports. You can therefore be confident that the email addresses you register with us will not generate spam.
Thank you once again for supporting our vital work. It is only by studying penguin populations that the causes of penguin decline can be discovered and stopped. You can find detailed reports of our work on the following web sites www.falklands.net www.penguins.cl www.seabirds.org
Below I attach additional information about your adopted penguin.
Best wishes
Dr Mike Bingham
Environmental Research Unit
MAGELLANIC PENGUIN,
(Spheniscus magellanicus)
Breeding Range: Chile, Argentina and Falkland Islands
Length: 70cm.
World Population: 1,600,000 breeding pairs
The Magellanic Penguin is only found around the Falkland Islands and South America, but it is extremely numerous within these regions. The Falkland Islands has a population well in excess of 100,000 breeding pairs, but this is small compared to populations in South America, which number around 1,500,000 breeding pairs. Breeding colonies range from the Golfo San Matías in Argentina, southwards around the islands of Tierra del Fuego, and northwards up the Pacific coast of Chile as far as Coquimbo.
The Magellanic Penguin is around 70cm long, and has an average weight of about 4kg. The head and upper parts are black apart from two broad white stripes beneath the throat; one running up behind the cheeks and above the eye to join the pinkish gape, the second running adjacent to the white underparts with which they merge above the legs. Females are slightly smaller than the males, but have similar plumage.
Penguins of the Genus Spheniscus, to which Magellanic, Humboldt and Galapagos penguins all belong, are much more loosely colonial than other penguins. They generally nest in burrows when soil conditions permit, and are consequently spaced much further apart than surface-nesting penguins. Magellanic Penguin colonies in particular often extend over several kilometres of coastline, at densities ranging from 0.001 to 0.2 nests per sq.m.
Magellanic Penguins are widely distributed throughout the region. They particularly like offshore islands with tussac grass or small shrubs, which are in abundance around the Falkland Islands, Tierra del Fuego and the Pacific coast of Chile. Such islands offer deep layers of soil for burrowing into, and dense vegetation offering protection from aerial predators. The Atlantic coast of Argentina is much drier, and has less vegetation cover, but it is still home to around 650,000 breeding pairs, many of which nest above ground in surface scrapes or under bushes. Magellanic Penguins prefer to nest in burrows, but when soil conditions are unsuitable for burrowing, they will nest on the surface using whatever protection they can find.
Adults arrive at the nest sites to breed in September, and after a period of burrow excavation and repair, begin egg laying around mid October. Two equally sized eggs are laid 4 days apart, each with a weight of around 125g. Incubation takes around 40 days, with the female incubating the eggs for the first shift, while the male feeds at sea. He forages at distances of up to 500km away from the breeding site, before returning to relieve the female some 15 or 20 days later. She then goes to sea for a similar period, and when she returns, the two birds change over at regular intervals until the eggs hatch.
Both parents continue to brood the chicks in turn on a daily basis, for a period of about 30 days. Chicks are fed daily, with adults leaving the colony in early morning, and returning with food later the same day. Magellanic Penguins mostly forage within 40km of the nest site during this period, except in the Falklands where foraging is affected by commercial fishing. Foraging trips become longer as the chicks become larger, and demand more food, and chicks may then have to wait several days between meals.
By the end of 30 days the chicks have developed their mesoptile plumage, and are able to venture out of the burrows. At this stage they look very different from the adults, being a browny grey above, and creamy white below. Living in burrows, chicks have good protection from both predators and cold weather while both parents are away feeding, and consequently they do not form creches in the way that most surface-breeding species do.
Whilst burrows offer good protection from most weather conditions, heavy rain can result in flooding of the burrows in certain areas. Chicks rarely drown in such circumstances, but often become wet and cold. Mesoptile plumage provides excellent insulation when dry, but it lacks the waterproofing qualities of the adult plumage and loses much of its insulation properties when wet. Consequently many chicks can die from hypothermia in such conditions. Living in burrows also means that both chicks and adults become infested with penguin fleas.
Despite the two eggs being of roughly equal size, adults give feeding priority to the first chick to hatch, resulting in a higher rate of mortality amongst second chicks. Nevertheless Magellanic Penguins often rear two chicks successfully when sufficient food can be caught. Normal productivity ranges from 1.0 to 1.6 chicks per breeding pair in South America, but averages only 0.5 chicks per pair in the Falklands due to commercial fishing. Magellanic Penguins do not normally relay if they loose their clutch.
When the weather is fine larger chicks often sit outside their burrow entrances, but will rapidly return to the safety of their burrows at the first sign of danger. Fledging (leaving the nest) occurs at 8 to 17 weeks of age, depending on food. Fledglings look similar to the adults, except for being greyer and lacking the clearly defined banding of the adults.
After the chicks have fledged and left the nest, the adults are able to spend a period of time at sea, feeding up in preparation for their annual moult in March. Moulting takes 3 to 4 weeks, after which the adults leave the breeding site, and remain at sea until the following breeding season. Magellanic Penguins can live to about 20 years of age.
Females may begin breeding at 4 years of age, but the males do not normally breed until they are at least 5 years old. This is quite possibly a consequence of there being more males than females, making it easier for inexperienced females to find partners than for inexperienced males. Magellanic penguins generally show strong site and mate fidelity, and pair-bonds are reinforced by allopreening.
Magellanic penguins are opportunistic feeders. Their preference is for fish (such as Micromesistius australis, Sprattus fuegensis, Engraulis anchoita, Merluccius hubbsi, Patagonotothen sp., Austroatherina sp., Myxinus sp.), but when this is not available they will also take squid (Loligo gahi, Gonatus antarcticus, Moroteuthis ingens, Onychoteuthis sp.) and as a last resort crustaceans (Munida gregaria). During chick-rearing, foraging trips are generally conducted on a daily basis during daylight hours, except in the Falklands where food is harder to find. Birds generally forage at depths of less than 50m, but on occasions may dive up to 100m. Winter foraging for prey often takes them way beyond their normal breeding range, with birds travelling as far as northern Brazil.
Magellanic Penguins have declined severely in the Falkland Islands since the rise of commercial fishing in the late 1980s. The current Falklands population (2003/04) stands at less than 20% of its 1990/91 level, and this decline is still continuing due to lack of protection. These declines have not occurred in nearby Chile or Argentina, where populations are increasing.
Comparison of colonies in the Falklands, Chile and Argentina confirm that competition with commercial fishing is the cause of the Falklands decline. Adult penguins in Chile and Argentina are able to return with food for their chicks on a daily basis, with foraging trips averaging 12 to 14 hours. By contrast adults in the Falkland Islands take approximately 35 hours to find the same amount of food.
With only half the amount of food being fed to chicks, lower chick survival rates would be expected, and this is confirmed by our research. Over recent years breeding success and chick survival rates have been substantially higher in Chile and Argentina (average 1.4 chicks per nest) than in the Falklands (average 0.5 chicks per nest). This huge difference in breeding success is sufficient to account for the gradual decline in population, with insufficient chicks being reared in the Falklands to replace natural adult mortality.
The breeding sites themselves also show the magnitude of the Falklands decline. In the Falklands, populations have declined so much that 80 to 90% of burrows are unoccupied or derelict. A Magellanic Penguin in the Falkland Islands has no difficulty finding a suitable burrow. There are plenty of ready made ones whose owners have either died or moved elsewhere. On Isla Magdalena in Chile, virtual every inch is used by penguins. Even areas where the ground is unsuitable for making burrows are used, with Magellanic Penguins nesting on the surface.
In September 2000, members of the International Penguin Conservation Work Group passed a resolution calling for no-fishing zones around penguin breeding sites in the Falkland Islands, as has been done successfully in Chile and Argentina.
The report, supported by 43 penguin research organisations, and 124 other conservation organisations from around the world, calls for 30 mile no-fishing zones around the Falkland Islands, following the starvation of 100,000 penguins in May 2002. The report calls for action against harvesting down the food web through commercial fishing by saying:
"Recommend that there be no inshore fisheries within 30 miles of the coast in the Falklands. Restrict industrial fishing from areas of known concentrated penguin use at sea, including wintering and foraging areas for fledglings. Argentina and Falklands should establish an integrated series of marine reserves and zones to benefit all species of fish, seabirds and marine mammals".
Unfortunately the Falkland Islands Government have refused to honour this, despite the continuing decline in penguin numbers.
Some colonies along the Atlantic coast of Argentina have also experienced declines due to oil pollution from the deliberate discharge of oily ballast water by tanker traffic. An estimated 40,000 Magellanic Penguins are killed by oil pollution every year along the coast of Argentina, representing the main cause of adult mortality in this area. The commencement of oil exploration around the Falkland Islands could mean similar mortality amongst Falkland penguins, unless considerably higher standards to those employed in Argentina are demanded. Unfortunately early indications are not good. During a 5 month period of oil exploration around the Falklands in 1998, no less than three oil spills occurred, killing several hundred penguins, cormorants and other seabirds.
Magellanic Penguins from both the Falkland Islands and South America face natural predators at sea, such as sea lions, leopard seals and orcas (killer whales). They also face predation of chicks and eggs by avian predators, such as gulls and skuas, but where the penguins nest in burrows, such predation is greatly reduced.
Magellanic Penguins are also killed by crab fishermen around the remoter parts of southern Chile, the penguin carcasses being used to bait crab pots. This probably has little impact on the overall population, but decimates the breeding sites that are affected.
Magellanic Penguins are popular for tourism, but they are the most nervous of penguins. Visitors that approach breeding sites which do not normally have many visitors, will send the penguins scurrying into their burrows for safety. Magellanic Penguins do readily adapt to regular visitation however, and become much less nervous with time. Nevertheless, careful control of tourism near Magellanic Penguin burrows needs to be enforced, since burrows will readily collapse if walked over.
Simple fences keeping people just 2 or 3 metres away from burrows is all that is required, and this can benefit both penguins and tourists. Not only are the penguins protected from being crushed in their burrows, but they also rapidly learn that humans will not enter beyond the fence, and will confidently remain sitting outside their burrows for all to see. By contrast, visitors to unfenced sites will generally see little more than distant penguins scurrying away, or faces looking out from within their burrows.