Eight Hundred Thousand Penguins and Counting

NOTE:  We're now in Valparaiso, Chile.  But I have about 15 or so blogs from our cruise, so I'm going to post these a few per day, in chronological order.  I'll try to remember to add this note so that people know to go back a few days. 

4 February 2020

I met a friendly young man when I was leaving Montevideo – he owns a company that runs tours in a variety of places, including our next port stop which was Puerto Madryn, Argentina, best known for the penguins nearby.  Richard and I talked about revisiting this penguin colony, because when we went four years ago, the penguins either had already left for their time at sea, or they were hanging around the colony waiting for their annual molting to be finished.

Here's a link to that blog:  rollingluggagers.blogspot.com/2016/03/make-way-for-penguins.html

Richard didn’t care about going back to Punta Tombo, but I’ve been a fan of penguins since I was a small child, so I decided I’d go.  The link to Diego’s company now has malware, so I've deleted it.

Met my friend Diego the tour guy out on the pier, and waited while the people who pre-booked the tour showed up.  Half of the people were from another ship that was in port that day, and they were on a later schedule than our ship.  But we finally got into the vans, and headed south.  And as we walked over to the vans, we saw a cute little penguin in the water, first diving for fish and then swimming in circles!  SO cute!

Punta Tombo houses the largest continent-based Magellanic penguin colony in the world.  (There may be a larger colony on some island, this is just from the info brochures and all.) There are roughly 800,000 Magellanic penguins at this colony, although as many as 1.2 million have been seen here this year!  And while most people try to pronounce Magellanic is Magellan-ick, the true pronunciation is much easier – ma-jeh-LAH-nick.

Our tour guide, David (dah-VEED), explained the life cycle of Magellanic penguins as we drove south (for about 2.5 hours).  Magellanic penguins supposedly mate for life, and use the same burrow every year throughout their lives.  (Our penguin scholar on board said that the myth is that most or all penguins mate for life, while in reality they don’t, and they have a 35-50% “divorce” rate, depending on the species of penguin.)

Anyway, whether they mate for life or not, Magellanic penguins spend roughly six months each year on land for mating, breeding, and letting the babies grow, and then they spend six months a year at sea.  Each September, they return to land, the males arriving first to fix up their burrows.  The females return about two or three weeks later, and they find their mate.  Several weeks later, the females lay two eggs – always two eggs.  And after a few weeks, the eggs hatch and the family has two babies.  Both parents take turns fishing and returning to the nest to feed the two chicks.  The babies learn to fish for themselves while they are at sea, and the one year old penguins accompany the families.  At about two years of age, penguins are mature enough to breed.  And the average life span of Magellanic penguins is about thirty-five years.

The last time we were here, as I said, the penguins were molting.  Penguins are the only bird that molts ALL their feathers at one time.  Most birds, even sea birds and other water birds, lose a few feathers at a time and grow in new feathers.  But penguins rely on those stiff waterproof feathers to insulate their bodies while they swim and fish and live at sea.  So all the new feathers grow in and push out all the old feathers at one time, and this can take a few weeks.  Until those new feathers are all in, the penguins can’t swim – so they live off the food they’ve stored in their bodies, and they stand around on the land, in puffs of feathers, sighing dramatically and looking quite uncomfortable.

On this visit, however, we saw baby penguins.  They were roughly two months old, and most were beginning to lose their soft downy baby feathers and growing in their stiff waterproof feathers so they’ll be able to swim north with their parents in another month or two.

When we arrived at Punta Tombo, we had about 90 minutes to visit.  The place was packed, since this is a popular site for visitors, especially with a couple of cruise ships in port.  Most people hurry along the gravel path and raised boardwalk to get down to the end, so they can see the penguins swimming in the water and waddling around on the beach.

I started hurrying along, but then I looked at the river of people moving in each direction.  It really was packed.  I realized even if I hurried down to the beach, I’d be forced to hurry back, given our time limit.  And I like to meet each penguin and talk to them.  So I just stopped, and decided to enjoy where I was.  I’d chat with the penguins, take photos, and walk until our time was half over.  Then I’d slowly walk back, again just appreciating where I was. 

So I met all kinds of baby penguins, who have got to be one of the most adorable baby animals ever.  I mean, look at those faces!  Chubby penguin faces and round little penguin bodies, with feather fluff that makes them look like they’d float in the air!  Just so soft and cuddly looking, with cute faces and almost smiling beaks!  Yeah, well, those beaks are fast and strong, so petting baby penguins is NOT a good idea, no matter how much I would have liked to do so. 

I had all kinds of conversations with the babies and their parents, and they happily posed for photos.  Okay, they didn’t pose, they were just soaking up the sun as they napped standing up, but it felt like they were posing.  There were the usual penguin dramas as two penguins danced their mating tango, while other penguin couples groomed each other.  Some penguins preened, others bickered, and everywhere babies were crying for more food from their parents.  Baby penguins sound like they are mewling – somewhere between a baby crying and a kitten mewing, with a particularly shrill nasal quality to the sound. 

Most parent penguins would ignore the baby penguins crying for more food, although some that had been out fishing would feed their babies in the usually birdy feeding fashion.  (And I’m glad I’m not a bird!)  It was funny to watch the little penguin families, with the parent quietly sleeping as the two babies started crying for food.  Actually, it was like babies everywhere – one baby would decide they were hungry and start crying, which would wake up the other baby who would join in.  The parent would open one eye, decide it wasn’t feeding time, and go back to ignoring the babies, who would then weave around the parent trying to convince them they needed food NOW, and cajole them into feeding these poor starving chubby babies.

Really, penguin drama in every direction!

One of the human rules of the penguin colony is that penguins have the right of way.  So if a penguin crosses the path, the people need to stop and stay put, keeping their distance as the penguin decides there they are going.  Some penguins seemed to be indecisive, like pet cats – cross halfway, change their mind, take a few steps back across the path, then walk along the path a bit before heading across the path once again.

There were a few families of guanaco, the camelid that is common in this desert-like part of Patagonia.  The guanaco (pronounced gwa-NAH-coe) is related to the other camelids of Argentine, llamas, alpaca, and vicuna, but they all live in the more hilly or mountainous regions.  Guanaco prefer the steppes and plains that are arid, closer to the coast and flatlands of southern Patagonia. 

The guanaco wandered around the penguins and their burrows, ignoring the penguins but managing not to step into any of the burrow holes.  The penguins kept half an eye on the guanaco, knowing that they, the penguins, rule this site.

It was a great day.  Our bus got caught in a sudden rainstorm and heavy winds, and there was some roadwork that slowed our trip back.  We ended up rushing down the pier, hoping we’d make it back to our ship before the gangway was pulled up!!!  It was tense for a few moments, but then we realized that the cruise ship’s excursion buses were also delayed for the same reasons, so we were fine.  (The ship will wait for their own excursions, but won’t wait for private or independent excursions.  So knowing that their excursion was just as late as we were meant we wouldn’t be left behind if the ship sailed before we got there.)

I have just about 100 penguin photos, so I thought I’d continue with information from the penguin talk given by Dr. Lloyd Davis.  He’s on board our ship as part of the expedition team, and he’s one of the world’s experts on penguins and seals!  So he’s a really great person to have on board, and is a really interesting speaker!

There are nineteen or so species of penguins in the world, all living in the Southern Hemisphere.  The reason the number is uncertain is that some penguins that seem to be the same species may actually be two different species, while other penguins that seem to be crested penguins may be two different species of crested penguins.  NINE of these species of penguins live in New Zealand.  And the oldest species of penguins also are from New Zealand.  The Waiparu penguin, now extinct, was roughly 1.5 meters (about 4.5 feet) tall – and of course, the fossils were found in New Zealand.

It is believed that penguins evolved 65 to 63 million years ago, roughly about the time that a giant meteor crashed into the Earth, resulting in major climate changes and the end of the age of dinosaurs.  As the climate changed, so did the environment.  And that changing environment meant animals had to adapt and change to survive in that environment, which meant changes in what they ate, as well.

At that time, 65 to 63 million years ago, land animals began to evolve into sea animals.  There is scientific evidence that animals like seals, dolphins, porpoises, and whales were once land animals that evolved into the sea animals we know them to be today.  Penguins, apparently, were once flying birds.  But they evolved into birds that could dive deeper and longer than flying sea birds – and essentially, penguins gave up flying in order to be able to swim and dive.

All the current penguin species evolved in the last three million years (or so). 

All penguins feed at sea but breed on land.  The diversity of the land in which they live caused the variations in the penguin species, as they have adapted and evolved to survive in a variety of environments.  For example, Magellanic and Humboldt penguins both adapted to live in warmer environments, and thus nest in underground burrows, keeping them cooler than other species that nest on the ground.  They also often have exposed flesh (as in not-feathered flesh) which allows them to lose body heat through this naked flesh.  (Interestingly, both Magellanic and Humboldt penguins have a band of black and white around their belly.)

All penguins have insulation from their feathers, which are stiff interlocking feathers that trap air under and between the feathers, which then provides that insulation.  Adult penguins molt yearly, on land – they can’t enter the water until the new feathers are fully grown in, and the penguins preen to disperse their natural oils throughout the feathers, making them waterproof.

Another interesting penguin fact is that these animals evolved in places without natural predators on land, where penguins are more vulnerable.  They do encounter predators in the ocean, but penguins swim MUCH better than they walk.

One of the huge myths is that penguins mate for life.  Some species may, such as the Magellanic penguins supposedly do.  Scientists have studied other penguins, and it varies.  Some 35 to 50% of penguins do not re-mate with the same partners each year, and among Emperor penguins the “divorce” or non-remating rate is as high as 85%!

You might think it would be difficult to study penguin mating habits, since to us, most penguins of any given species look pretty much alike.  Dr. Davis participated in a study of Adelle penguins, and they painted numbers on the back of every penguin so they could keep track of which penguin was which, and thus track mating and remating or penguin divorce.  (The paint came out with the annual feather molt.)

So, now we know.  Movies have led to the romantic myth that all penguins mate for life.  Some might, most don’t.

Oh well.  They are still very cute, very charismatic animals.  Their babies are absolutely adorable.  They all look like little tuxedoed birds, and they all play around in the water happily.

We hope to meet more penguins, so look for more blogs!