Where Does The Penguin Live
Penguin living quarters
Penguins are famous for living in the frozen tundra of Antarctica, but out of the 18 species of penguin in the world, only two live on the southernmost continent; Penguins live on every continent in the Southern Hemisphere, from Australia to Africa, and can be found on the coasts of South America.
They can be found on small rocky islands far out in the sea, while the species farther north, such as the Galapagos penguin, live near the equator in the Galapagos Islands, penguins are found only in the southern hemisphere, and are mostly concentrated on the coasts of Antarctica and sub-Antarctic islands.
Antarctica
It is the southernmost continent, largely uninhabited, and almost completely covered in ice. It is also the highest, driest and coldest continent, and the most populous of penguins, with more than five million breeding pairs.
However, only two species, Emperor and Adélie penguins, make Antarctica their year-round home, meanwhile.
Chinstrap, Macroni, and Gentoo penguins spend some time on the Antarctic Peninsula, but breed in Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic islands to the north.
Although Antarctic winters are very cold, emperor penguins breed and lay eggs on the sea ice with the arrival of winter, and male penguins are assigned to incubate the eggs in these harsh conditions, giving up food for up to four months while caring for the young . penguins .
Australia
Research published in 2020 indicates that the ancient ancestors of penguins did indeed originate in Australia and New Zealand. In modern times, the smallest penguin species still makes Australia their home, while Australia is generally known for its hot and dry climate.
The south coast has cool waters and a mild climate that allows small penguins to thrive. They live along the coast of the mainland, but the largest populations are found on remote islands, such as Phillip Island, where they have a colony of about 32,000 people.
Argentina
Argentina is a country in South America, occupying most of the southern part of the continent, and the extended coastlines and cold waters of the South Pacific Ocean support large numbers of Magellanic penguins, a medium-sized species with white stripes on their heads and across their chests.
A sanctuary on the Atlantic coast in Chubut province called Ponta Tombo is home to more than 200,000 breeding pairs.
Falkland Islands
It is a remote archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, about 480 km east of Patagonia in South America.
It is a series of rugged islands with sandy beaches and coastlines lined with cliffs and is home to only 3,500 people. It is the real capital of the penguin world. Five species nest on the islands: Magellan, Rock Hopper, Gentoo, King, and Macroni.
With a total population of about one million, the islands have the largest population of gentoo penguins in the world, and the birds nest within three miles of the coast, forming penguin highways as they travel back and forth from the ocean to feed.
While penguin populations worldwide are declining, the number of gentoo penguins in the Falkland Islands has increased dramatically over the past 25 years.
Galapagos Islands
It is a chain of volcanic islands off the coast of Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean, where one type of penguin lives, the Galapagos penguin. The islands extend along the equator, making these penguins the only species that live in the northern hemisphere.
This tiny penguin, only 50 cm high, is able to crawl into caves and crevices along the rocky coast, to avoid the tropical heat on Earth.
From Antarctica to the west coast of South America, the Humboldt Current brings cool waters and schools of fish that can sustain penguins, despite its northern latitude, with nearly 600 breeding pairs remaining in the wild, and the Galapagos penguin is considered a threatened species. to extinction.
Tristan da Cunha Islands
Is a small island chain of dormant volcanoes in the South Atlantic Ocean, there are more than 1,600 km separating the archipelago from its closest continental neighbors (South America and Africa), and although the islands are small, they are important nesting sites for northern penguins, only Incisible Island With an area of just 13 square kilometres, it is home to nearly 27,000 penguins.
These numbers point to a sharp decline since the 1950s, when some islands of the South Atlantic hosted more than a million birds. The species is now critically endangered, and researchers believe the decline in numbers is largely due to rising ocean temperatures and lower numbers of prey.
New Zealand
New Zealand is home to four species of penguins that thrive in the cold currents of the Southern Ocean: little penguins, snares, yellow-eyed and crested penguins.
Penguins can be found along the coast of the South Island of New Zealand, as well as on small remote islands in the south. The endangered yellow-eyed penguin is the largest of New Zealand’s penguins, and it is also the rarest, with an estimated 4,000 in number.
South Africa
South Africa has recently become home to penguins. For most of its history, the African penguin was restricted to living on various islands along the southern coast of Africa, from Angola to Mozambique in the 1980s. Two colonies were established on the shores of the mainland near Cape Town.
The researchers determined that these mainland colonies could now thrive, because increasing human numbers reduced the number of predators that would have wiped out the penguin colony. However, the number of African penguins across its entire range has declined rapidly since the 1920s, and this species is now threatened with extinction.
Symmetrical Islands and Bounty
The Bounty and Antipodes Islands are two remote island chains deep in the South Pacific Ocean. Both chains are located more than 650 km southeast of New Zealand. These islands are the only breeding grounds for erect penguins.
These penguins are among the least researched, and little is known about their migration patterns. They have been observed arriving on the islands in September, staying there to breed and raise their young until February, after which they return to the sea until the following September.
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
It is a steep, mountainous island chain in the South Atlantic Ocean, with no permanent residents. In the early 20th century, there were outposts on the islands used by whalers, but they have since disappeared.
In modern times, it has been known as a breeding ground for large colonies of penguins, including Macron, King and Chin penguins.
One of six species of crested penguin, the macaroni penguin gets its name thanks to the yellow feathers extending over its eyes that look like pasta. They usually gather in large, dense breeding colonies of over 100,000 birds in total, and there are over a million breeding pairs of macaroni penguins on the islands. .
Why do penguins live in the Arctic?
Looking at the Galapagos Islands, they are surrounded by hundreds of miles of open ocean, and the larger species can swim that far if they are foraging in the Southern Ocean, but the smaller Galapagos penguins don’t have a chance to swim to Costa Rica or El Salvador, so they remain cut off from the islands, the thing The same applies to all other species in Oceania, as they were to ascend through New Guinea and Indonesia.
Some species may adapt to the heat, but they are not adapted to move quickly on land, so they will only stay on the coast, and will not move very often to the north, unless forced to do so. In South Africa and Namibia, African penguins also have plenty of predators. which must be guarded against, making any move too far northward perilous.
In Antarctica, when penguins are on the ice, they don’t have any real threats from predators, so they haven’t evolved much protection against predators on land, but on other continents they can pose real threats, especially to young penguins.
In Antarctica, penguins leave their nest sites relatively untouched by humans and are left to breed and live in peace, and African penguins have been pushed to the brink by humans; Many of the southern islands were explored for oil until the last century.
So, life out of the Southern Ocean isn’t great for many species, and it may be because penguins couldn’t handle more outside pressure from humans, and any groups that successfully moved north were driven to extinction before they could get a proper foothold in the Region.
Penguin food
Penguins are carnivores; They only eat meat.
Its diet includes small crustaceans known as krill, squid, and fish. Approximately 2,370,000 pairs of Adelaide penguins can consume 1.5 billion kg of krill, 115 million kg of fish, and 3.5 million kg of squid annually, according to the Center. Sea World in the United States.
Penguin reproduction
The reproduction rate of penguins varies according to their species; Most species reproduce only once a year, while the African penguin and the blue penguin both reproduce twice a year.
The royal penguin also reproduces twice every three years, and it is noteworthy that the majority of penguins begin to reproduce during the spring or summer seasons, while the emperor penguin reproduces in the autumn
