Species
Magellanic Penguin
Spheniscus magellanicus
Regional Nesting Sites: Breeding colonies of Magellanic Penguin are located on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of South America. Around 86% of the world population breeds on the coasts and islands of the Patagonian Sea.
Diet: It feeds principally on anchovy, Fuegian sprat, young hake and squid, diving to depths of up to 120 m.
World breeding population: Estimaded at 1.3 millon pairs.
Conservation Status: Near threatened (IUCN, 2008).
Main threats: Oil pollution (accidental spills at sea but also chronic and intentional spills of small volumes of hydrocarbons), the expanding Argentine anchovy fishery (important part of the species’s diet), and accidental catch by hake fisheries.
