Penguin Colony Discovered
January 20, 2020
WCS researchers announced the discovery of a new colony of Magellanic penguins on a remote island in Argentina.
The penguins were found on the eastern side of Isla de los Estados off the eastern tip of Tierra del Fuego at the southernmost end of the South American continent.
Researchers made the discovery while surveying a known colony of rockhopper penguins—a different species—which they had been tracking by remote cameras for two years.
When the researchers eventually accessed an unexplored area of the rockhopper colony, they discovered the telltale nesting burrows of Magellanic penguins hidden in tall grasses.
The discovery adds to the growing list of 50-plus known colonies of Magellanic penguins. The largest colony is in the Punta Tombo Provincial Reserve, a protected area created in Argentina with the help of WCS more than 50 years ago.
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