- CHARACTERISTICS
- Size between 70 – 76 cm.
They present two black bands between the head and the torso, which differentiate them from the Humboldt penguin, which just has one.
General penguin characteristics.
- DIET
- Sardines, silverside, Argentine anchovy, squid, krill and other crustaceans.
They drink sea water, which they filter through their salt excreting glands. Their function is complementary to the kidneys.
- REPRODUCTION
- The egg-laying takes place in the month of October, although the birds arrive in the month of September to prepare the nests.
Gestation lasts 42 days; both sexes take it in turn to hatch the egg and to feed from the sea.
The squabs present with uniform dirty grey downy coats, by February they are already self-sufficient.
In April the migration to the southern seas begins.
- CURIOSITIES
- They nest in colonies on the coast, selecting soft ground and thereby digging their nests, although they may also nest under shrubbery or similar protection.
The breeding grounds are used year after year; the animals arrive, choose and recondition existing cavities for their new egg-laying.
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- NAME
- Magellanic Penguin
- HABITAT
- Southern America through to the sub-Antarctic Islands
- SCIENTIFIC NAME
- Spheniscus magellanicus
- SPICE
- Poultry
- DIET
- Piscivorous
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