World Penguin Day is the perfect excuse to celebrate some of the coolest birds on the planet—and we want you to be part of it! From their awkward waddles on land to their incredible swimming skills in the ocean, penguins capture hearts while also reminding us how important it is to protect our planet. Join us in celebrating by learning […]
Written by Dr. Katie Holt and Sofia Denkovski Finishing the season with a full house We had a full house when Katie Holt arrived at Punta Tombo on February 8th, but we fit everyone! For one week, Chloe, Sofia, Anna, Katie, Sonia de Berry, and Dee Boersma all stayed and worked under one roof. Katie’s arrival was just past the
Every year our field workers observe juvenile penguins returning to shore for their first molt. In honor of this momentous time in a penguin’s life, we are bringing to you Fat Penguins Week! In late austral summer and early austral fall, Magellanic penguins undergo their annual catastrophic molt. For approximately 19 days, juvenile and adult penguins avoid the water and
We hope that most people are aware that penguins exist (we hope!), but are you aware of each penguin species’ IUCN Red List status? Established in 1964, the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species has evolved to become the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global extinction risk status of animal, fungus and plant
Marine megafauna face many human-caused threats, so understanding how vulnerable each species is to these dangers is essential. In this study, researchers assessed how 256 large marine species respond to 23 different threats, ranging from specific fishing gear to climate impacts and coastal disturbances. They found that 70 species had high vulnerability (v > 0.778 out of 1) to at
Dr. Dee Boersma, Dr. Sue Moore, and Dr. Caroline Cappello were in the Galápagos from July 25 – August 3 to survey the penguins on the islands. They were able to measure 36 of them—16 more than last year! Measuring penguins is an essential part of our project, which is maintaining continuity with our decades-long dataset on the species. Dr. Boersma began studying
It’s time to highlight our favorite type of bird – seabirds! Here are some of our favorite videos about seabirds, and our latest research. 🦅 Seabirds need our help! Donate to SANCCOB today and help protect seabirds, especially the quickly declining African penguin: https://sanccob.co.za/ Student: Samantha-Lynn MartinesQuarter: Spring 2023 Not all seabirds are the same 🏖️ Learn more about different
World Ocean Day 2025 is year two in a multi-year action theme: Catalyzing Action for Our Ocean & Climate. Many students from Dee’s Video Storytelling class have been inspired by the ocean and featured them in their videos. Favorite ocean-themed videos 🌊Our global mean sea level has been rising as far back as the 19th century. Sea level rise impacts
In honor of our favorite type of bird, we’ve released some of our favorite videos from Dee’s Spring 2025 Video Storytelling class! Be sure to browse our Youtube channel for even more penguin goodness 🙂 World Penguin Day is April 25. What better way to celebrate by visiting your local zoo, like the Humboldt penguin exhibit at the Woodland Park
Animals can change their behavior to survive in environments that are constantly changing, a skill known as behavioral plasticity. Scientists have suggested that some animals might show “plasticity syndromes,” meaning they are flexible in many behaviors at the same time. Plasticity syndromes in wild vertebrates could help them respond better to change. To test this idea, researchers studied Magellanic penguins
From the abstract: “We found that Spheniscus penguins have pale feet at hatching and the feet become darker with age throughout the lives of individuals. We showed that we can accurately predict the age structure of a colony of Magellanic penguins Spheniscus magellanicus, but not the ages of individual penguins, based on a sample of foot colors.” Authors: Ginger Rebstock,
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
“Using a multidecadal dataset on Magellanic penguins, we show that despite strong selection on body size, some environmental conditions favored larger bodies, and others favored smaller bodies, thus preventing consistent evolution in one direction or the other […] Such findings highlight that fluctuating selection can be driven by environmental variability, and these processes could eliminate the possibility of evolutionary rescue
Published over 10 years ago, Penguins: Natural History and Conservation is still considered the publication about penguins. UW PressBookshop.comAmazon.com Penguins, among the most delightful creatures in the world, are also among the most vulnerable. The fragile status of most penguin populations today mirrors the troubled condition of the southern oceans, as well as larger marine conservation problems: climate change, pollution,
As you might’ve guessed – we like our seabirds here. Check out all the ways we celebrate World Seabird Day 2024 at the Center for Ecosystem Sentinels: Student YouTube Videos We bring to you a new video: Taken from the Skies, by Samanth-Lynn Martinez. This video does not mince words about the damage we are doing to our seabird populations.
