| Background Information |
The Magellanic penguin is a member of the genus Spheniscus. Like its three other closely related relatives, the Magellanic has a typical penguin appearance with black-to-brown shading on the back and white coloring on the breast and trunk. The Magellanic can be distinguished with moderate attention by the two bands traversing the anterior surface of its neck. In Humboldts, this band is incomplete and in African's it is absent.
Magellanic penguins average about 17.5 inches in height and weigh around 6.5 pounds. These figures place them in the category of "average" for penguin physical measurements. Both the male and the female exhibit the same color patterns (monomorphism).
The ecology of the Magellanic penguin is diverse. It inhabits the cold temperate subantarctic islands and the Chilean coasts. The Magellanic penguin both temporally and spatially overlaps with the Humboldt penguin, but they do not usually interbreed. When Magellanic penguins do breed, they do so on Juan Fernandez, Staten Island, Tierra del Fuego, and the Falkland Islands from late September to February. They do migrate during the year.
They're populations may be threatened by continued oil spills and other human activities, but there are an estimated 1.2 million pairs of these birds. Naturally, they are preyed upon by the Southern sea lion, the Dominican gull (chicks, eggs) and the Giant petrel (chicks, eggs). Their diet consists of primarily marine crustaceans and small fish.
The Magellanic penguin is sometimes called the jackass penguin.
| Author Bernard Stonehouse |
"Magellanic penguins Spheniscus magellanicus breed on the Juan Fernandez Islands, the coast and islands of southern Chile and Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego and neighbouring islands, Staten Island and the Falkland Islands. The breeding colonies are found in a variety of habitats including open beach, sandhills, grassy slopes and woodland. Where cover is present the birds nest under it; on open ground they dig shallow burrows, which protect them from sun and weather and to some extent from mammal and bird predators. Largest and heaviest of the spheniscids, this species has two white and two black bars, strong and sharply defined, between chin and chest. Laying in September or October, Magellanic penguins complete their breeding by late February. After a postnuptial moult, most leave the breeding areas and migrate northward. Boswall and Prytherch (1972) and Boswall and MacIver have provided breeding notes on the species."
| Magellanic penguin multimedia |
- An adult with two young - Art Wolfe
- An albino Magellanic penguin! - Art Wolfe
- An adult Magellanic penguin
- A small group of Magellanic penguins
- Another small group of Magellanic penguins
- More Magellanics hanging out on the rocks
- A juvenile Magellanic who wants to be fed
- Sometimes Gentoos and Magellanics get along
Magellanic penguins returning to the nest and courting. (© PBS)
Magellanic penguins greeting each other. (.wav, 172k)
Magellanic penguin fact sheet. (PDF, 111k)
