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Home » Argentina » Conservation Success Stories for the Punta Tombo Penguins

Conservation Success Stories for the Punta Tombo Penguins

Last updated September 19, 2019 By Carol Guttery

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The popular culture is mad for penguins. If you believe the movies, they sing, they dance and they have misadventures in Madagascar. Sounds like an awesome life. But what about real penguins? What about the threatened population of Punta Tombo penguins who live in southeastern Argentina? They aren’t singing and dancing. But they are rebounding thanks to the efforts of the Global Penguin Society.

Magellanic Penguins of Argentina
Magellanic penguin in El Pedral

Why Are Magellanic Penguins Threatened?

When you think of “penguin”, you are probably visualizing the grand Emperor Penguins. The Emperors live on the vast Antarctic ice shelves and star in documentary films. But there are actually 18 species of penguins on four continents, including: Southern Africa, the South Atlantic, Tasmania, New Zealand, the Galapagos, Chile and Argentina. Eleven of the species are threatened, including the Magellanic penguins of eastern Argentina.

The Magellanic penguins of Argentina live and nest primarily around the Peninsula Valdes and Punta Tombo region of eastern Patagonia. Their population is estimated to be at ~600,000 penguins. Which sounds like a LOT of penguins. But there are several factors at play that had been causing losses of up for 40,000 a year for  populations in the Chubut Province which includes the Punta Tombo penguins as well as 29 other colonies.

Global Penguin Society world Penguiins

Oil Spills

The coastlines of eastern Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil are major offshore drilling regions and a thoroughfare for oil tankers. Oil spills from the wells and the discharge of oily ballast water from the boats are a a major source of ocean pollution. The oily pollution is a serious cause of mortality for the Magellanic penguins living and migrating along the coastline.

Overfishing and Climate Change

Both fictional penguin movie stars and real live penguins eat fish. The fish populations decline when challenged by a combination of commercial over-fishing and climate change. The reduced availability of fish forces the Punta Tombo penguins to extend their swimming range in search of food. They return back exhausted to underfed chicks. Consequently, the chicks experience a higher mortality rate. The adult penguins are also vulnerable because they get caught up in the fishing nets.

Pablo Borboroglu Global Penguin Society
Pablo takes a penguin nest survey

Enter Pablo Borboroglu

Pablo Borboroglu is the Director of the Global Penguin Society. The mission of the Global Penguin Society (GPS) is dedicated to the survival and protection of the world’s penguin species, fostering integrated ocean conservation through science, management and community education. Pablo himself is a native Argentinian. He grew up hearing stories from his grandmother about Patagonia. He internalized those stories and as a result developed a strong reverence for the natural world. As a young adult, he went to Patagonia and worked as a tour guide. The job required him to study the native animals and through that, he became interested in conservation work. He started by delivering  conservation messages to his tour clients and then he later pursued a PhD in biology.

During the worst period of penguin decline he attended the International Penguin Congress. While there, he heard a lot of scientific ‘whining’ but didn’t see a lot of action. So Pablo co-founded GPS with the intent of converting the science into conservation action for both the penguins and their habitat. This is a very personal project for him. Pablo lives in Puerto Madryn, which is in the province that also includes the Punta Tombo penguin colonies.

Counting Penguins with Pablo

I had the great fortune to be able to visit Pablo on his home turf. Pablo took my husband and I out with him to do a penguin count at the colony not far from his home. What a treat. Pablo runs a global conservation organization. But he takes a personal interest in his local colony, going out regularly during the breeding and nesting season to keep an eye on things.

Magellanic Penguin Eggs
Magellanic Penguin Nest
Penguins lay 1-2 eggs

Pablo’s colony is located on a lovely but lonely stretch of coastline south of Puerto Madryn in the El Pedral conservation area. We navigated through several stretches of private ranch land to reach the nesting site. Pablo then gave us the crash coarse in penguin behavior, showed us how to locate a nest and set us off to count as many nests as we could find.

The Magellanic penguins don’t live on the ice. This stretch of coastline is rocky and very dry. The penguins scoop out a shallow nest in the dirt of scrubby bushes. When we were there, the nests were just getting ready to hatch, so the penguins weren’t going anywhere. We had to be careful not to stress the penguins by getting too close. But their presence made the nests fairly easy to spot and we counted about 800 of them.

El Pedral Litter Clean Up Magellanic Penguin
Community beach clean-up

Penguin Conservation and Community Programs

It was a rare privilege to be able to participate in Pablo’s conservation work. But I also found it remarkable because of his fantastic relationship with the local land owners. They all know him and allow him to transit their land to get to the nesting sites. They also keep on eye on things when he’s not around. It works this way with other conservation programs that I’ve profiled, like the Cotton-top Tamarins of Colombia. The goal of the program is the conservation of the animal species, but it’s only successful with the engagement of the local communities.

GPS Community Programs

The GPS program in Argentina has several components of its community programs. Like the Wild African Dog project, they start with the kids. An enthusiastic kid armed with knowledge about a their own species is a powerful political force in any household. GPS takes the kids out on field trips to the nesting sites. They also work in the classroom giving talks and supplying the kids with penguin booklets, posters and binoculars.

GPS works with the adults too. In addition to the land owner outreach, they have engaged the general population in beach clean-ups and have gained cooperation from the community to give the penguins their space during nesting season.

GPS Habitat Conservation Efforts

GPS has also worked hard to mitigate the negative affects of the oil spills and over fishing. They had been advocating for a marine reserve in the Punta Tombo area for quite some time. And then, there was a fortuitous meeting held between the Disney Conservation Fund and the Governor of the Chubut Province. As a result of the meeting, the Governor became an advocate for marine protection. He supported GPS in the designation of the 7.7 million acre Patagonia Azul biosphere reserve. It’s the size of Maryland or Belgium. It covers both land and sea and is the largest biosphere anywhere (map here).

The protected area pushed the shipping lanes further out into the ocean, providing a buffer zone for not only the penguins, but the fish species that they eat, the steamer duck, 110 mammals, 95 bird and 197 invertebrate species. The oil spills have been much reduced since the height of the problem and now they see less than 100 deaths per year due to oil pollution.

As a result, there are now far fewer deaths among the Punta Tombo penguins and the Magellanic penguin populations throughout the region are starting to climb again.

But don’t take my word for it. Check out Pablo’s presentation at the annual Wildlife Conservation Network expo.

See the Punto Tombo Penguins

Unlike the elusive Andean Cat, you can go to Argentina and actually see the Punta Tombo penguins for yourself. The Punto Tombo and Peninsula Valdes areas of northeastern Patagonia don’t get nearly the kind of visitor traffic that they deserve. In addition to the penguin colonies, there are migrating right whales, dolphins, sea lions, elephant seals and orca whales.

Have you seen that video of Orca whales hoisting themselves up onto the beach in order to snatch sea lions? Cool right? Well, the orca do it on the Peninsula Valdes! Argentina is a huge country overflowing with natural wonders. But if you have any interest in marine life, marine mammals or conservation, you should make the time to visit the area.

Pumta Tombo Penguins

Here are a few resources to help you plan your trip.

  • Pablo recommends getting your own special experience in the El Pedral nesting site by doing a day trip or overnight at the El Pedral Punta Ninfas ranch. They offer small groups and very responsible tourism.
  • If you want to see penguins on the Peninsula Valdes, he recommends visiting Estancia San Lorenzo. Reviews and book at Trip Advisor.
  • See the Punto Tombo penguins by driving down from Puerto Madryn (187/k)…but don’t go on a Cruise ship day.
  • If you want a truly remote penguin experience, drive another 65/k south to Cabo dos Bahias. The nearest town is Camarones and it is in the heart of the biosphere.
  • You can read my 4 day independent itinerary to Puerto Madryn and the Peninsula Valdes.
  • Or check out this piece on an organized family tour to Puerto Madryn and Punta Tombo.

How to Support the Global Penguin Society

  • Donate money to GPS through the Wildlife Conservation Network (be sure to designate GPS in the pull-down menu). I donate to this organization myself and 100% of designated funds will go to GPS.
  • Follow GPS on Facebook or Twitter.
  • Talk to your local zoo. Penguins are a charismatic and popular species at zoos, bringing in a lot of visitors and revenue. Ask your zoo what they are doing to support penguins in the wild and tell them about Pablo.

Your Parting Shot

Magellanic Penguins near Peninsula Valdes
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Visit the Punta Tombo penguins and learn about their conservation successes thanks to the Global Penguin Society

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Filed Under: Blog, Social Impact Tagged With: Argentina, South America, Wildlife, Wildlife Conservation

About Carol Guttery

Carol Guttery is the founder of Wayfaring Views, and is a travel writer, photographer, and philanthropy consultant. She's been tackling the world for forty years and has been to 43+ countries and territories.

Comments

  1. Carmela Resuma says

    January 12, 2018 at 4:18 pm

    Oh my goodness!! What an incredible experience. Loved hearing and reading all about it.

    Reply
    • Carol Guttery says

      January 15, 2018 at 6:58 pm

      More people should visit this area– it’s amazing

      Reply
  2. Ria (@lifeinbigtent) says

    February 17, 2017 at 1:44 pm

    I don’t know much about penguins but I’m thinking to go to Galapagos soon and I know that I can see them there 🙂 Never thought that you can meet penguins not in cold surrounding (stereotype that I had from childhood:))

    Reply
    • Carol Guttery says

      February 20, 2017 at 4:31 pm

      They were in the water while I was snorkeling in the Galapagos. They are super fast swimmers

      Reply
  3. Clare says

    February 17, 2017 at 11:10 am

    It must of been amazing to do this. I love penguins and I got to see them when I was in Patagonia. I couldn’t believe how close we could get and sometimes they would just walk on the path in front of us. Its a great thing that Pablo has done and we need more people to protect all our animans 🙂

    Reply
  4. Felicia Broccolo says

    February 16, 2017 at 7:44 pm

    I love that you wrote about this! Thank you for raising awareness about this important topic!

    Reply
  5. Alice Chen says

    February 16, 2017 at 5:32 pm

    I love these!! They’re adorable! I will definitely stop by when I’m in Argentina!

    Reply
  6. Baskets Life Travel says

    February 16, 2017 at 2:35 pm

    This is awesome one I had no idea that there were so many types of Penguins, nor did I know that there are breeds that are endangered! I love that you went to the penguins with this would be something I would love to take my kids to see and learn about the penguins! Thank you for sharing!

    Reply
    • Carol Guttery says

      February 20, 2017 at 4:32 pm

      There is a link on the page that goes to a kid friendly itinerary from Wandering Wagars

      Reply
  7. Jacqui cooks says

    February 16, 2017 at 8:57 am

    Great responsible tourism post! Very informative. I know our African Jackass penguin are threatened too due to oil spills off the coasts of South Africa. SANCCOB is the organisation responsible for saving these little lives. Thank you for more awareness to their plight.

    Reply
  8. wanderingchocobo says

    February 16, 2017 at 6:56 am

    This is my type of travel blog post!!! My goal for this year is to do more responsible tourism and a lot more volunteer work, so I really enjoyed reading about the penguins and conversation work of Pablo and GPS. Thank you for spreading the word and educating your readers!

    Reply
    • Carol Guttery says

      February 16, 2017 at 7:57 am

      Thanks for your enthusiasm.

      Reply
  9. Rimsha says

    February 16, 2017 at 3:18 am

    Thanks for writing this! I had no idea penguins were endangered. I learnt a lot from reading this post. I wish the popular culture movies would do something to spread awareness about this on a large scale 🙁

    Reply
    • Carol Guttery says

      February 16, 2017 at 7:57 am

      These particular penguins are threatened, not endangered. But still, we need to take care to preserve their habitat

      Reply
  10. miriam says

    February 16, 2017 at 12:36 am

    Very interesting post. Lucky to live this amazing experience! 😉

    Reply
  11. Blissful Shades says

    February 15, 2017 at 10:50 pm

    Carol, this is the most informative blog post I have read all day – I had no idea there were so many kinds of penguins! What an awesome privilege indeed to get to participate. Thanks for the resources 🙂

    Reply
    • Carol Guttery says

      February 16, 2017 at 7:58 am

      Thank you for the kind words. It was a very cool experience

      Reply

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Carol Guttery Welcome to Wayfaring Views. While here, you'll get insanely practical guides with alternative itineraries and offbeat adventures. Visit the about page for more info and resources.

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