HUMBOLDT PENGUIN

Remaining Population: Unknown

Range: Southern Oceans

The Humbolt Penguin is also known as the Peruvian penguin. These penguins live and breed on the rugged coast and offshore islands of Chile and Peru. Their nest are burrows in the ground. The female almost always lays two eggs. If food is plentiful both chicks will survive. These Humbolt Penguins stand about 24 inches high and weigh about 6 1/2 to 11 pounds. Humbolt Penguins have a thick, black upside down horseshoe shape on their belly. They look almost like the African penguin, but are shorter with long flippers. Humbolts are endangered because their drippings known as "guano" have been used as fertilizer. When the "guano" is harvested it causes serious damage to their habitat. There are only about 10,000 birds today. There is not a lot of information known about these penguins today, because they have not been studied extensively.

Species Description and Natural History
Standing about 27 inches (69 cm) tall, the Humboldt penguin lives along the Pacific coastlines of Chile and Peru. Total population of the Humboldt penguin was estimated at 20,000 in the early 1980s, and in the 1990s may number around 10,000 individuals.

Like all penguins, the Humboldt is a flightless marine bird, superbly adapted to its environment. Fossil records suggest that penguins once could fly but gave it up for life in the sea about 60 to 70 million years ago. Their wings have evolved into narrow bony flippers, which make them extremely maneuverable and fast swimmers. Early explorers thought penguins were fish, not fowl, because they are so superbly adapted to life in water.

Penguins are covered by a dense layer of small, scalelike feathers for protection against water and wind. An undercoat of downy feathers beneath traps an insulating layer of air which keeps them dry and warm. Beneath the skin, a layer of blubber also acts to retain the birds’ body heat even in frigid waters and freezing air. In fact, for some penguins, keeping cool is more of problem than keeping warm.

The Humboldt penguin nests on islands or rocky stretches of mainland coast and feeds on fish and squid in near-shore waters. The Humboldt breeds year round in small colonies. Humboldts dig underground burrows to protect themselves, their eggs, and chicks from the hot sun and predators.

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Fact Sheet : HUMBOLDT PENGUIN
Order: Sphenisiformes
Family: Spheniscidae

What do Humboldt penguins look like?
Humboldt penguin have a streamlined, torpedo-shaped body covered with short, waterproof, black-and-white feathers, giving them the classic tuxedoed look. They have stiff, narrow flippers, bare face and feet and eyebrow and chest stripes. There is no sexual dimorphism, so males and females look alike.

How do Humboldt penguins move?
Humboldt penguins “fly” through the water very efficiently, usually swimming about 7 kph. They can sprint up to 14 kph. While their body is ideally suited for swimming, it is not so ideal for land. Consequently, penguins have a waddling walk. However, they are amazingly good hoppers and runners. They are capable of jumping up to almost their full height.

How do Humboldt penguins communicate?
The sounds penguins produce are not at all song-like. They are much more like donkey braying, trumpeting, and grunting. They also communicate with head and flipper waving.

Where are Humboldt penguins found?
Humboldt penguins are found on the western shores of South America in Peru and northern Chile. They are able to live in these areas because of the cooling effects of the “chilly” Humboldt Current, which gives this species its name.

What are typical behaviors for Humboldt penguins?
Penguins live in huge colonies that they share with other aquatic seabirds. Nonbreeding penguins spend most of their time at sea, rarely coming back to land.

What do penguins eat?
In the wild, Humboldt penguins eat primarily small schooling fish like sardines and anchovies. They are “inshore” feeders and do not feed in the open ocean. Their greatest diving depth appears to be about 15 m. They can stay submerged for up to two minutes. They may travel as far as 75 km in a day, especially if they are feeding young.

Do Humboldt penguins have any particular mating and nesting behaviors?
Males and females begin to breed at about three years. They often pair with the same mate for many years. A male arrives at the nesting area a few days before the female to prepare the nesting site. Once the nest is ready and the female arrives, a courtship dance begins and includes lots of bowing and head bobbing. The female lays two white eggs that take 39 days to hatch. Both parents alternate caring for the eggs.

What is the life story of a new chick?
The two eggs hatch at different times. The chicks are born covered with very thin gray down and with their eyes shut. Both parents care for the chicks. By six weeks, the chicks begin to develop adult feathers, and have full adult plumage at about a year. They will remain dependent on the parents until they are about three months old.

Do Humboldt penguins have natural enemies?
Leopard seals and sharks prey on the penguins as they swim. Chicks are eaten by gulls, larger seabirds, and desert foxes. In addition to predators, the geographic range of the Humboldt penguin threatens the species because Peru and Chile are areas where El Nino storms destroy large regions of nesting areas. El Nino also affects sea temperature, which can reduce the penguins’ food supply. Humans also threaten Humboldt penguin populations because they collect eggs and penguin guano, which the penguins nest in, but people use as a fertilizer. Penguins may get entangled in fishing nets, too. The Chilean population is not as threatened as Peruvian populations are. The Peruvian government has installed walls around the rookeries to limit predation and disturbance at the breeding sites.