In July 2024, Dr. Dee Boersma and Dr. Caroline Cappello traveled to the Galápagos Islands for a penguin expedition unlike any they’d experienced before. Since 2010, CES has collaborated with Galápagos National Park and conservationist Godfrey Merlen to visit penguin breeding areas and conduct research. After Godfrey’s passing in 2023, CES—with heavy hearts but optimism for the future—sought a new path forward for the Galápagos penguin project.
This next chapter emerged through an exciting new partnership between CES, Galápagos National Park, Silversea Cruises (made possible by collaborator Aura Banda Cruz), and Jocotoco Conservation Foundation. During the new team’s inaugural trip aboard the Silversea ship, Silver Origin, we counted 78 penguins during surveys, tagged and weighed 20 penguins, and inspected many of the nesting sites that CES built in 2010. Although the penguins had not bred recently—likely due to the food scarcity caused by the 2023-2024 El Niño—the adult penguins were in good condition and appeared to be getting ready to breed.
This trip marks an exciting milestone for CES in its Galápagos penguin conservation and research efforts. We are deeply grateful to our new collaborators and are already looking forward to the next research trip!
