Why Are There Penguins in the Tropics?

When you think of penguins, you probably think of this. But did you know there's penguins that thrive in tropical climates? What helps them survive in these environments so different from those of some of their closest relatives? We sent our South American correspondent to investigate and report on these tropical penguins and answer some of the most pressing questions, like how do they survive the heat? And why aren't there any penguins in North America? I'm in the Magellan Strait and we're going to Magdalena Island. It's one of the biggest penguin colonies around here, so we're hoping to see a bunch of penguins. These are the tropical penguins. Hi, I'm Danielle Dufault and you're watching Animalogic. Penguins are the most iconic animals of Antarctica and they're known worldwide for surviving the toughest winters on Earth and raising chicks in the middle of the Antarctic ice sheets. These are emperor penguins. They're the largest penguins in the world. After the female lays the egg, she goes to the ocean to feed, and the male incubates the egg for two months, during which he doesn't eat at all. The chick is born in the middle of winter, when temperatures get to minus 60 degrees Celsius and blizzards bring winds of up to 200 kilometers an hour. Then the female returns with a belly full of fish and feeds the chick, while the male goes into the water to eat for the first time in over eight weeks. This is an amazing story of adaptation and survival in some of the toughest environments on Earth. But it's also so powerful that in some ways it has limited our vision of what a penguin can be. There are 18 penguin species, and some of them have adapted to life in milder weather across the southern hemisphere. South Africa and Namibia are home to the adorable African penguins. These little guys are often seen in tourist beaches and have a donkey-like call which has earned them the nickname the jackass penguin. New Zealand has three species in its two main islands. One of them, the little penguin, also nests in Australia. We had the chance to see them a few years ago to get our episode about them here. But the penguins more comfortable with tropical weather are the South American penguins, so we're going to focus on them in this episode. Our South American correspondent, Andreas, went to Patagonia to check out the most abundant species in the continent, the Magellanic penguin. These penguins are found mostly on the Atlantic coast of South America, and as their name suggests, the Strait of Magellan. I'm in the Magellan Strait, and we're going to Magdalena Island, which is about an hour away from Punta Arenas. It's one of the biggest penguin colonies around here, so we're hoping to see a bunch of penguins, say hi. We're going to get pretty close, obviously not touching, so it'll be fun. Magdalena Island is considered a natural monument due to the huge amount of penguins that nest there. Over a hundred thousand penguins can cram themselves into this little island during the peak season. That's almost 5% of the global population. But after that, you can tell these penguins apart by the two black bands across their chests. Very dapper. Magellanic penguins lay their eggs in burrows, usually two at a time. But once they're done with their baby duties, they go far and wide in search of food. Sometimes they make it all the way to Brazil, a country you might not associate with penguins at all. But it's this strange mix of tropical life and Antarctic life that gives us stories like that of Dindin, the Magellanic penguin, a little bird who won the hearts of Brazilians across the world. It happened in a small town near Rio. Joao, a local retiree, was out fishing when he stumbled upon an injured penguin covered in oil. He took Dindin home, cleaned it up, and fed it until it was healthy enough to go back to the ocean. Heartwarming. But the story doesn't end there. The following year, Dindin returned to Joao's backyard, where he stayed for a while before returning to his penguin family. Joao thought that was a one-off visit, but the penguin kept returning every year, greeting Joao as if it was a part of his family. Which, in a way, it was true. Because by then, Dindin and Joao were bonded forever. Aww. Of course, Dindin wasn't originally looking for friends. He, like all other Magellanic penguins, goes to Brazil every year for the most important thing in the world. Fuchibol. Oh no, I'm kidding. It's delicious, nutritious seafood. The Malvinas Current pushes cold, nutrient-rich water along the Argentinian coast. At the same time, the Brazil Current brings warm water south along the Brazilian coast. These two currents meet in northern Argentina, Uruguay, and southern Brazil, pushing the nutrients closer to the surface and making it a super productive fishing area for penguins. Then, during the summer, they head back down to Patagonia to mate. But okay, even though these penguins make it fairly north, they're mostly in the cold waters of Patagonia and the Falkland Islands. So let's meet the penguins that live permanently in warmer regions. First of all, the humbled penguin. Andreas is actually out in search of these little trape penguins, so let's check in on him and see if he's found any. I'm about two hours north of Santiago and I'm looking for the warm-weather penguin. It's about 25 degrees, which is a little warmer than you would expect a penguin to live in, right? But that island right there is Penguin Island. At some times of the year, there'll be thousands of them at the same time. So hopefully there's still some of them. That's right. But the reason we're here is that this is one of the best places to see humbled penguins in the world. Everything around here is called Los Pinguinos, which is the penguins, obviously. And there's guys all over the place. Every other street is called something penguin. That's because that's Penguin Island right there. On a good day, you can see thousands of penguins there. But today, at the end of the season, you might only see a couple. But that's still good. I see some humble penguins. The penguins are the main tourist attraction, which has led to environmental protections. The penguins are iconic. Humbled penguins, just like their Magellanic cousins, depend on cool, nutrient-rich currents to bring them food. This is the Humboldt Current, which travels north along Chile and Peru. The water here is so full of nutrients that penguins have adapted to live here year-round. During the summer, they mate, raise their young, and then molt their feathers in huge groups before dispersing to fish along the massive coasts of Peru and Chile. So did we make it on time? And we got our penguins. You see that little thing over there? Obviously not in this shot, but as opposed to here. You'll see a few of them. Be very happy. Clap for them. Surviving the heat in these places requires special adaptations to keep their cool. One of them is to spread their flippers and stand very still to radiate heat. They stand so still that they often look like they've been frozen in time. They're not moving at all, which kind of worries me that they might be statues. Will they put statues in that island? Oh, no, never mind. No, it moved. I'm sorry. I'm just paranoid about these things. Besides cooling by radiating heat, Humboldt penguins have patches of skin around their beaks, cheeks, and eyes. When they're overheating, these patches fill up with blood and release heat through exposed areas of skin. They're basically the penguin version of elephant ears. This is crucial because Humboldt penguins live in some areas that are straight-up deserts. Their range includes the coastal areas of the Atacama Desert, the driest place on Earth. The weather here is basically the same as New England. It's hot in the summer, it's cold in the winter, but a little more tempered, I guess, in the winter. But still, it's interesting to think that even here we have thousands of penguins and they're telling me that if I want to see more penguins, I have to go more north, which in the southern hemisphere means warmer areas. This environment creates one of the weirdest mishmashes of wildlife in the world. Have you ever seen a penguin and a cactus in the same shot? Me neither. But here they are, along with other typical hot weather shore birds like pelicans and cormorants. And yet, even though they look nothing like other birds, penguins are the hardest ones to see. Sometimes it's really hard to see the penguins because their bellies are the same color as that white thing over there. And that white thing over there is their poop. Somehow they evolved to poo the same color as the color of their bellies, or the other way around. In any case, when they're standing, they're showing their white bellies, and they're standing on the white surface over there, you don't see them at all. It's not wild. Their coloration has the dual purpose of hiding in the water, but also on land. Their predators include sea lions, sharks, foxes, dogs, and even other birds like skuas. Having seen the adorable penguins, it's time to let them be. Okay, the tide's getting high, and the penguins seem to be going to sleep. So it's time for me to go. But it was really awesome to get to see all these little guys. You know, they didn't do much. They're not here for my entertainment. They're here to be amazing penguins. They are, so I'm glad I saw them. Let's look at them. And back to you, Daniel. Thanks, Andreas. Unfortunately, we couldn't go visit the last and northernmost penguin species in the world because it doesn't live along the South American coast. This is the Galapagos penguin, a species so tropical that's even found in the northern hemisphere. The Galapagos penguin is the only species whose entire population lives in the tropics. They're found mostly on Fernandina Island in the Galapagos. The north side of the island is north of the equator, which makes them the only wild species this side of the equator. To survive, they rely on the same cold water current that Humboldt penguins need to fish. They also pant like dogs, and radiate heat like their Chilean cousins by standing still and spreading their flippers. And stay in rocky caves during the hottest times of the day. It would have been amazing to hear what Darwin would have to say about this penguin, but it seems like he never encountered them on his trip to the Galapagos. What do you think he'd say? Let me know in the comments. So, okay, we have all these penguins living in hot climates. What makes them different from the Antarctic penguins we know and love? There are three main reasons why these three penguin species can survive in such warm conditions. The first one is that they're all very small compared to Antarctic penguins. Emperor penguins can be up to 1.3 meters tall and weigh over 40 kilograms. The Galapagos penguin is about a third as tall, but 10 times lighter than an emperor penguin. Being smaller makes it easier to get rid of excess heat. The second one is that even though they live in sunny areas with tropical climates, the water they swim in is very cold. Both the Humboldt and Brazil currents bring cold water north from the Antarctic, so the penguins swim in it when overheating. These waters are also richer in food than warmer areas like the Caribbean. And lastly, they have adapted to get rid of heat through physical adaptations like panting or bare patches of skin. If they can do all of these things, it seems like there shouldn't be a barrier for them to take over the coasts. Well, for starters, the delicious meals pretty much stop at northern Peru. The Humboldt current moves away from the coast pretty much when it reaches the Peruvian border with Ecuador. It happens to go through the Galapagos Islands, which is why we have penguins there. But the coastal waters north of Peru are not nutrient-rich enough to support large penguin populations. Also, penguins are great swimmers, amazing parents, resourceful hunters. But one thing they're not is great fighters. The Patagonian and coastal areas of Peru, Chile and Argentina have some predators. But as we get closer to the tropics, the predation pressures get much stronger. Can you imagine a penguin trying to build a nest in a place full of jaguars, cougars, jaguarundis, ocelots, bush dogs, caimans, crocodiles and harpy eagles? Yeah, these penguins wouldn't stand a chance. So it's impossible to establish themselves north of these areas. OK, we've established that they can't make it to Canada on their own, unfortunately. But what would happen if they were brought over by humans? I'm not saying we should do it. We should not do it at all. But just hypothetically, could they use their adaptations to survive up here? Unfortunately, probably not. There are some areas like the coasts of California and Oregon with cool, nutrient-rich water. But nesting would be a problem. These areas have a much higher human population than the South American coasts. Humans bring cats, dogs and rats with them, which would decimate penguin populations. The Humboldt and Magellanic penguins nest in burrows. These would be hard to replicate in the rocky shores of eastern Canada or the temperate rainforests of British Columbia. Even if you picked the most adaptable of these species, the Humboldt penguin, and put it in the theoretically best North American habitats, which would probably be California, they wouldn't make it. Human activity, North American predators and diseases, and environmental fluctuations due to climate change would all make it impossible to manage. The only way it could happen is if there were serious existential threats to penguin populations in Chile. But as of right now, managing that is not the case. So yeah, it's better to leave penguins where they belong. In their natural habitats. As fun as it would be, North American penguins are not meant to be. Their populations are actually decreasing in South America. Dealing with their problems in the South should be our first priority. Oil pollution, overfishing, climate events like El Nino, and predation by introduced predators like dogs, cats and rats have led to declining populations of the three species. The Humboldt penguin is a vulnerable species with only about 24,000 mature penguins left in the world. The Galapagos penguin is in an even more dire situation. They're endangered with only 2,000 adults left in the wild. For the sake of all penguin lovers in the world, I hope their efforts succeed. I can't wait to see another penguin parade, but I'll gladly go to them and support their conservation efforts. So what should we talk about next? Please let me know in the comments and don't forget to subscribe for new episodes every week. Thanks for watching. See ya!