Punta Tombo is a newly defined (December 2015) Protected Area (PA) on the coast of Argentina and is the largest nesting site for Magellanic Penguins in the world. These are close relatives of our Humboldt Penguins here at WPZ. See how similar they are below?
Magellanic Penguin
Humboldt Penguin
What I think is special about this PA is that it not only protects the land and costal area, but also the waters around it. As Professor Boersma from UW said “This has to be one of the few marine protected areas that’s saving prey species for these penguins — things like shrimp, anchovies and hake.” While this PA is newly defined in 2015, I believe the key factor for it’s ongoing success is protecting that area in which the penguins hunt for food, over the last decade penguins at Punta Tombo had to increase the distance travelled by 50 miles. Overfishing is one of the biggest threats to penguins.
Conversely, there is the Pingüino de Humboldt National Reserve. This is a protected area on the coast of Chile that is approximately 3 square miles in size (three!). This does not protect the area that the penguins hunt for food and because of this the competition with the fishing industry is one of their biggest threats (WAZA, n.d.;“Penguin (Humboldt) – Woodland Park Zoo Seattle WA,” n.d.). In addition to that pressure, they are also threatened by a nearby mining operation and the potential building of a nearby power plant.
Thanks for sharing this info. It’s so heartbreaking when you hear that these animals are being diminished in size due to lack of a protected area. We must do all we can to save these animals….if not, then they will all become extinct. And that’s why I highly disapprove of all these companies trying to build hotspots for vacationers in these exotic locales. There’s enough now to satisfy us, let’s just leave nature alone.