Wildlife
Magellanic penguin
Magellanic penguins live in temperate climates, not in the Antarctic. In the breeding season the parents share the babysitting duties, one incubating the chick while the other goes out to sea to feed. The chick gets a meal every two to three days.
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Penguins on the hunt
Andes to Amazon
Ungainly on land, penguins are literally in their element underwater where they appear to fly.
Ungainly on land, penguins are literally in their element underwater where they appear to fly.
Forest penguins
Andes to Amazon
Penguins are unexpected forest inhabitants, but they prove surprisingly adaptable - if the sealions don't get them.
Penguins are unexpected forest inhabitants, but they prove surprisingly adaptable - if the sealions don't get them.
Distribution
Species range provided by WWF's Wildfinder.
The Magellanic penguin can be found in a number of locations including: South America. Find out more about these places and what else lives there.
Habitats
The following habitats are found across the Magellanic penguin distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.
Behaviours
Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Helpless young
Adapted to swimming
Carnivorous
Colonial
Courtship display
Burrower
Tactile sense
Acoustic communication
Monogamous
Moulting
Egg layer
Parental investment
Predator
Social
Territorial
Visual communicationAdditional data source: Animal Diversity Web
Conservation Status
Near Threatened
- EX - Extinct
- EW
- CR - Threatened
- EN - Threatened
- VU - Threatened
- NT
- LC - Least concern
Population trend: Decreasing
Year assessed: 2008
Classified by: IUCN 3.1
About
The Magellanic Penguin, Spheniscus magellanicus, is a South American penguin, breeding in coastal Argentina, Chile and the Falkland Islands, with some migrating to Brazil where they are occasionally seen as far north as Rio de Janeiro. It is the most numerous of the Spheniscus penguins. Its nearest relatives are the African, the Humboldt and the Galápagos Penguins. They are native to the Strait of Magellan in the cool climate of southern Chile, hence the name's origin.
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Classification
- Life
- Animals
- Vertebrates
- Birds
- Sphenisciformes
- Penguins
- Banded penguins
- Magellanic penguin
Sounds
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Magellanic penguin colony (1:34)
Elsewhere on the web
- Animal Diversity Web (animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu)
- Penguin Project: fact file (mesh.biology.washington.edu)
- ARKive: Images of Life on Earth (arkive.org)
- Penguin conservation in the Falklands (falklandsconservation.com)
- World Land Trust: fact file (worldlandtrust.org)
- Magellanic Penguin (wikipedia.org)
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