Research Paper

Conserving the Galapagos Penguins

Introduction

The Galapagos Islands are home to many different species one of them is a penguin. This penguin is not only the only penguin in the Northern Hemisphere it is also endangered. This animal is endangered due to its low population and predators. One of its causes is its lack of food during the El Nino season since it makes it harder to find prey and they mostly have to focus on their chick. Another reason that the penguin is endangered is because of its low mating seasons causing its population to decrease more than it is increasing. The Galapagos penguin may be extinct in the next few years due to all of the issues it encounters when living on the Islands. If the penguin were to become extinct it would make a great difference in the Galapagos Islands Ecosystem since it is the food for most animals. It would also cause a major unbalance in its ecosystem with many animals that might overharvest or overpopulate.

Description

Galapagos penguin is its common name and its scientific name is Spheniscus Mendiculus (Fagan). The Galapagos penguin is the second smallest penguin in the world whilst the first is “Little Penguin”. The Galapagos penguin measures around 20 inches in height or 50.8 centimeters and 4-6 pounds in weight or 1.8 to 2.7 kilograms with the males being moderately larger than the females but only by a couple of inches. The penguin’s small stature makes them capable of fitting into caves with tiny crevices to hide from the sun’s rays and its immense heat. They have some other adaptations that help them cool down when they are hot. These adaptations include their “bare patches on its face and also its behaviors such as panting and standing with its flippers extended to also help it to release heat” (Fagan).

Habitat

Galapagos penguins are found on the Galapagos Islands, off the coast of Ecuador. Which are coastal areas and waters near the cold Cromwell Current. The penguins inhabit the majority of the nineteen islands in the Galapagos chain. Most penguins are mainly found in the islands of Fernandina and Isabela (Spheniscus Mendiculus Galapagos Penguin). The Galapagos Penguins’ habitats are shores and rocky beaches and they also use other areas that provide shelter. They tend to breed in the islands of Fernandina and Isabela where the penguins would place their eggs in caves and or holes in volcanic rock from the islands (Spheniscus Mendiculus Galapagos Penguin). Their habitat is endangered because of climate changes caused by El Niño and La Niña cycles. These cycles affect the food supply for the penguin making the shifts of food supply unpredictable causing some to starve to death which started to decline the Galapagos penguin’s population (Spheniscus Mendiculus Galapagos Penguin). Some of the adaptations that the Galapagos penguin has is being endothermic which means that they use their metabolically generated heat to regulate their body temperature, they are also homoiothermic which means that their internal temperature stays the same regardless of external temperatures, and the penguins are also bilaterally symmetrical and bilaterally symmetrical animals have dorsal and ventral sides as well as posterior and anterior ends. This can help them find food in the cold waters (Spheniscus Mendiculus Galapagos Penguin).

Diet

“The Galapagos Penguins feed on fish such as sardines, mullets, anchovies, and much other small fish” (King). The penguins hunt them by swimming beneath the fish and grabbing them. They can often be found accompanied by other birds while they are hunting for food. Whilst the other penguins drive more schools of fish toward the surface, so the other birds that are up top and cannot go diving are able to eat. Some of the Galapagos penguin’s predators vary from being on land as the penguin’s predators are snakes, owls, and hawks, but they don’t hunt the penguins that often. The penguin’s most common predators are “cats and rats frequently attack both adults and eggs” (Langford). Also, in the sea, they are hunted by sharks, fur seals, or sea lions, the majority of the time they go fishing and they are rarely caught as by-catch in fishing.

Reproduction

Once the nest has been created, the female will lay one or two eggs in it. The smaller of the two eggs is likely to produce a chick that won’t survive. The parents will take turns incubating the eggs for about 42 days. It will be several weeks before they molt and can go into the water to get their food. Until then, the parents will take turns bringing food (Weston). They will then tend to have babies up to two or three times a year for these penguins. The nests are created in various cracks, crevices, and caves around the lava flow of the islands. They nest along sandy shores and rocky beach areas. They will often place their nests in hard-to-reach locations when possible to help secure the safety of the eggs. “They also have to put them in a location where the sunlight won’t be too harsh on the eggs” (Weston). Many people are worried and know the concerns that are there about the Galapagos penguin’s future. One of its reasons is due to its shortest breeding range which is 2 to 3 times a year. They have a dying population with barely any penguins left making it incredibly worse for them to start increasing their population. There are still many efforts currently being attempted so they don’t become extinct. (Weston).

Issues

The Galapagos penguins are currently listed as endangered by the IUCN Red List. This is where they keep track and try to prevent or see which animals are endangered and then they are trying to prevent them from going extinct. The penguin’s low breeding seasons and low success rates are due to its current environment. “When the currents that feed Galapagos are cold and full of sardines and other small fish, the penguins will molt, breed, and feed their nestlings. When water temperatures increase and food becomes scarce, such as during El Niño events, the penguins cannot get enough to eat.” Since there is not enough food they stop breeding and abandon their young (Boersma, Dee). One of the main goals for this project is to decrease or improve and strengthen the penguin’s dying population. So that the penguins are able to fully withstand the El Nino events which are getting worse and worse due to climate change. “In an attempt to rebuild the penguin population, Dr. Dee Boersma of the University of Washington and her research team built 120 high-quality, shady nest sites in 2010. The nesting sites that they created were made of lava rocks stacked on top of each other. They created nests for the penguin and even made some while they were there on their nesting areas to help the penguin’s breeding rates. They placed their artificial nets on the Fernandina and Bartolomé Islands and they placed some more off the coast of the Isabela and Mariela islands on Elizabeth Bay. Before they had done this she counted the population and there were only 300 of them and only one chick. The adult penguins were skinny and covered in algae, which meant that they had spent lots of time underwater looking for food. After they had helped the penguins as much as possible they came back after two years and they noticed that their population began to increase and that there were also more chicks found and they were in excellent condition (Boersma, Dee).

Conclusion

There are many groups working on conserving and repopulating the Galapagos Penguins and preventing them from extinction. They are also working on artificial habitats to increase how often they mate and their survival rate. They are also protecting them from feral predators like dogs and cats. Also, there are countless other projects that are currently being worked on to benefit the penguins astronomically, and remove them from the IUCN Red List. They are constantly finding brand-new ways to increase their population and stabilize its population so they don’t become endangered again. It will take a while which is why they are working as fast as possible but at the same time being cautious and aware of the penguins' well-being. So it would decrease the time and so we can prevent them from extinction but at the same time not helping the penguins depopulate. There has been success from these projects which has boosted their birth rate, they still need a long way to go before the penguins even hit the safe zone. That is the main reason why they’re still endangered. This species will take time to recover from being endangered but it will be worth it. Since this species may not provide many types of advantages but it does have one and that is to keep balance in the Galapagos ecosystem. Without it, there can be overharvesting and it can cause animals to overpopulate and others to become endangered. It also wouldn’t cost much to increase its population but it will take time.

Works Cited

Boersma, Dee. “Galapagos Penguin Population Conservation Efforts.” Galapagos

Penguin Conservation, Galapagos Conservancy, Inc, 2020, www.galapagos.org/conservation/our-work/ecosystem-restoration/increasing-the-galapagos-penguin-population/.

Fagan, Jesse. “Galapagos Penguin.” American Bird Conservancy, 22 Jan. 2021,

www.abcbirds.org/bird/galapagos-penguin/.

King, Mike. “Galapagos Penguins One of the Rarest Penguins in the World.” Penguins

International, 28 Nov. 2018, www.penguinsinternational.org/2018/11/28/the-rarest-penguin-in-the-world/

Langford, Sarah. “Galapagos Penguin Species.” Galapagos Conservation Trust, 13 Mar.

2020, www.galapagosconservation.org.uk/wildlife/galapagos-penguin/.

Wahlstrom, Joshua. “(Spheniscus Mendiculus Galapagos Penguin).” Animal Diversity

Web, 2007, www.animaldiversity.org/accounts/Spheniscus_mendiculus/#habitat.

Weston, Mike. “Galapagos Penguin.” BioExpedition, 16 Jan. 2020,

www.bioexpedition.com/galapagos-penguin/.