Dr. Eric Wagner

Testing Technology with the Woodland Park Zoo

Since 2015, we have deployed automatic weighbridges to track the foraging success of Magellanic penguins at one of their largest breeding colonies – Punta Tombo, Argentina. These weighbridges weigh penguins noninvasively as they leave the nesting area to forage and when they return to feed their chicks. This helps us track whether these penguins are finding enough food for themselves

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A fearful scourge to the penguin colonies: Southern giant petrel (Macronectes giganteus) predation on living Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) may be more common than assumed

Authors: Dr. Eric Wagner, Dr. Ginger Rebstock and Dr. P Dee BoersmaJournal: Marine Ecology Press SeriesDOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.11258 Excerpt from abstract: Southern giant petrels (Macronectes giganteus) are important consumers that range across the oceans throughout the southern hemisphere […] Here we describe a predation attempt by a trio of southern giant petrels on a molting adult Magellanic penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus) at

A fearful scourge to the penguin colonies: Southern giant petrel (Macronectes giganteus) predation on living Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) may be more common than assumed Read More »

Dr. Eric Wagner featured on podcast Raising Kind Humans

Dr. Eric Wagner talked with Katie Doughty, host of the podcast Raising Kind Humans, about parenting, penguins, and protecting the planet. Find the link to the podcast below, or wherever you download your other podcasts. Raising Kind Humans, episode 56 Katie also wrote a couple of children’s books starring penguins. Follow Team Kind Humans on Instagram @katie_doughty

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Changing course: Relocating commercial tanker lanes significantly reduces threat of chronic oiling for a top marine predator

Authors: Eric L. Wagner, Esteban Frere, P. Dee BoersmaJournal: Marine Pollution BulletinDOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.11 Photo credit: National Ocean Service Image Gallery Summary Summary written by Sofia Denkovski Argentinian oil and effects on seabirds Surveys from 1982-1990 suggested more than 40,000 penguins died per year in Chubut and Santa Cruz from chronic oiling. This was hypothesized to be due to the colonies’

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Field updates: Argentina, April 2023

Photo credit: Eric Wagner Thanks to the generous support of Zoo Augsburg in Germany, Dr. Ginger Rebstock and Dr. Eric Wagner were able to return to Punta Tombo for a couple of weeks in April. There, they put twenty satellite tags on penguins—ten females and ten males—that were about to start their post-breeding migration. From last year’s tagging effort, we

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Photo credit: Scott Pearson of WDFW

Resilience to a severe marine heatwave at two Pacific seabird colonies

Authors: Eric L. Wagner, Scott F. Pearson, Thomas P. Good, Peter J. Hodum, Eric R. Buhle, Michael B. SchrimpfJournal: Marine Ecology Progress SeriesDOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14222 A severe marine heat wave (MHW) persisted in the California Current ecosystem from 2014 through 2016… Photo credit: Scott Pearson of WDFW

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Should I stay or should I go: factors influencing mate retention and divorce in a colonial seabird

Authors: Eric L. Wagner, Caroline D. Cappello, P. Dee BoersmaJournal: Animal BehaviourDOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.08.002 Divorce among serially monogamous birds can lead to increased reproductive success if an individual obtains a higher-quality mate or nest site, or it can lead to lower reproductive success due to lack of pair experience or reduced breeding opportunities…

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