Poppy
I adopted a penguin. I named her Poppy. She lives in the Magdalena Island National Nature Reserve, near the city of Punta Arenas in Southern Chile.
This colony has a population of 60,000 pairs. The population is healthy and increasing, largely thanks to a no-fishing zone around the colony which protects the penguins' food supply, and careful management of tourism by the Chilean government.
Poppy's name is put on the pole next to her nest. The poles are small and discreet. They visit Poppy every few days to record her development, and the information they get from these observations is what they use to write the adoption reports. The information is also used for their scientific work. The information they gather includes how many eggs get lost, how many chicks survive, how often they get fed, and the causes of chick death.
This is what has made the adoption programme so successful, because the adoption fee really goes towards time spent observing my actual adopted penguin, and the results provide valuable scientific data that is used to protect the penguins from potential threats such as tourism, commercial fishing and oil pollution.
They have adoption sites in the Falkland Islands, Chile and Argentina. By looking at differences between these sites they can see what threats are causing harm to penguins and their chicks. They have adopted penguins near where tourists visit, and where tourists never visit. The differences in breeding success and chick survival enable them to see if people walking past the penguins are causing any harm.
The research has shown that penguins are very tolerant of human presence, and so far they have detected no difference in breeding success for areas visited by tourists, and those well away from people.
They also compare areas affected by commercial fishing, with areas where penguins do not compete with commercial fishing. This has shown huge differences. Chicks receive much less food in colonies which are not protected from commercial fishing boats, causing them to die from starvation. Twice as many chicks survive in Chile and Argentina where penguins are protected from commercial fishing, as in the Falklands where penguins are not protected.
Magellanic penguins lay two eggs, and if they lose them both, they abandon breeding until the following year. Magellanic penguins can live to over 20 years of age, so a few bad seasons during their life would be usual. The problem in the Falklands is that virtually every year is bad, and this has led to an 80% decline since the establishment of commercial fishing in 1988.
In Chile and Argentina penguin colonies are protected by no-fishing zones which stop fishing boats taking away all the penguins' food. This is why the penguin colonies in Chile and Argentina are healthy. In the Falkland Islands the government has refused to protect the penguins, despite protests from conservationists. As a result chick survival in Chile and Argentina is more than twice that of the Falklands. (See the scientific publication "Decline of Falkland Islands penguins in the presence of a commercial fishing industry" published in the Chilean Journal of Natural History 2002 at www.seabirds.org/resume.htm )
In the Falkland Islands and Chile, Magellanic penguins live in burrows. Burrows in general offer good protection for penguins. They protect the penguin from short bursts of rain, and from strong winds and predators. Magellanic penguins have a very sharp and powerful beak, with a hook at the tip which can tear through human skin with ease. When the penguin is wedged in its burrow facing outwards, it is impossible for predators such as cats and foxes to pinch the eggs, because they would suffer serious wounds in the attempt. So burrows offer good protection under most circumstances, but they are at risk from long periods of heavy rain that cause the water to fill the burrow.
In Argentina the penguins do not make burrows because the soil is too unstable. So instead the penguins make their nests under the protection of small bushes. This makes them more at risk from predators, but the nests are less likely to be flooded by heavy rain.
Poppy now has two eggs, and will spend the next month sitting on these eggs to keep them warm until the chicks hatch. They will let me know when the eggs hatch.
Isn't she darling? I ♥ her.
I gave Damian money to adopt a penguin today. He really wanted to adopt one too, so I thought it would be a good surprise. :) He named his penguin Polly. He doesn't have a photo yet, but when he gets one, I'll make him post it!
This colony has a population of 60,000 pairs. The population is healthy and increasing, largely thanks to a no-fishing zone around the colony which protects the penguins' food supply, and careful management of tourism by the Chilean government.
Poppy's name is put on the pole next to her nest. The poles are small and discreet. They visit Poppy every few days to record her development, and the information they get from these observations is what they use to write the adoption reports. The information is also used for their scientific work. The information they gather includes how many eggs get lost, how many chicks survive, how often they get fed, and the causes of chick death.
This is what has made the adoption programme so successful, because the adoption fee really goes towards time spent observing my actual adopted penguin, and the results provide valuable scientific data that is used to protect the penguins from potential threats such as tourism, commercial fishing and oil pollution.
They have adoption sites in the Falkland Islands, Chile and Argentina. By looking at differences between these sites they can see what threats are causing harm to penguins and their chicks. They have adopted penguins near where tourists visit, and where tourists never visit. The differences in breeding success and chick survival enable them to see if people walking past the penguins are causing any harm.
The research has shown that penguins are very tolerant of human presence, and so far they have detected no difference in breeding success for areas visited by tourists, and those well away from people.
They also compare areas affected by commercial fishing, with areas where penguins do not compete with commercial fishing. This has shown huge differences. Chicks receive much less food in colonies which are not protected from commercial fishing boats, causing them to die from starvation. Twice as many chicks survive in Chile and Argentina where penguins are protected from commercial fishing, as in the Falklands where penguins are not protected.
Magellanic penguins lay two eggs, and if they lose them both, they abandon breeding until the following year. Magellanic penguins can live to over 20 years of age, so a few bad seasons during their life would be usual. The problem in the Falklands is that virtually every year is bad, and this has led to an 80% decline since the establishment of commercial fishing in 1988.
In Chile and Argentina penguin colonies are protected by no-fishing zones which stop fishing boats taking away all the penguins' food. This is why the penguin colonies in Chile and Argentina are healthy. In the Falkland Islands the government has refused to protect the penguins, despite protests from conservationists. As a result chick survival in Chile and Argentina is more than twice that of the Falklands. (See the scientific publication "Decline of Falkland Islands penguins in the presence of a commercial fishing industry" published in the Chilean Journal of Natural History 2002 at www.seabirds.org/resume.htm )
In the Falkland Islands and Chile, Magellanic penguins live in burrows. Burrows in general offer good protection for penguins. They protect the penguin from short bursts of rain, and from strong winds and predators. Magellanic penguins have a very sharp and powerful beak, with a hook at the tip which can tear through human skin with ease. When the penguin is wedged in its burrow facing outwards, it is impossible for predators such as cats and foxes to pinch the eggs, because they would suffer serious wounds in the attempt. So burrows offer good protection under most circumstances, but they are at risk from long periods of heavy rain that cause the water to fill the burrow.
In Argentina the penguins do not make burrows because the soil is too unstable. So instead the penguins make their nests under the protection of small bushes. This makes them more at risk from predators, but the nests are less likely to be flooded by heavy rain.
Poppy now has two eggs, and will spend the next month sitting on these eggs to keep them warm until the chicks hatch. They will let me know when the eggs hatch.
Isn't she darling? I ♥ her.
I gave Damian money to adopt a penguin today. He really wanted to adopt one too, so I thought it would be a good surprise. :) He named his penguin Polly. He doesn't have a photo yet, but when he gets one, I'll make him post it!