Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Sphenis­cus men­dicu­lus is found on the Gala­pa­gos Is­lands, off the west­ern coast of Ecuador. Sphenis­cus men­dicu­lus is a year-round res­i­dent of the ma­jor­ity of the 19 is­lands in the Gala­pa­gos chain. Most in­di­vid­u­als are found on the two larger is­lands of Fer­nan­d­ina and Is­abela. ("Gala­pa­gos Is­lands", 2005; Har­ris, 1974; Sib­ley and Mon­roe Jr, 1990)

• Biogeographic Regions
• neotropical
  • native

• Other Geographic Terms
• island endemic

Habi­tat

Gala­pa­gos pen­guins oc­cupy coastal areas and off­shore wa­ters where the cold Cromwell Cur­rent brings food and other pop­u­la­tion-sus­tain­ing ne­ces­si­ties into the vicin­ity. These birds rest on sandy shores and rocky beaches and nest on areas of shel­tered coast. Gala­pa­gos pen­guins pri­mar­ily breed on the larger is­lands of Fer­nan­d­ina and Is­abela where they lay eggs in caves or holes found in the vol­canic rock of the is­lands. When feed­ing, they will hunt for small fish and crus­taceans in the coastal wa­ters, div­ing to a depth of ap­prox­i­mately 30 m. (Davis and Darby, 1990; Gor­man, 1990; Lynch, 1997; "Pen­guins, The Gala­pa­gos Pen­guin", 1990)

• Habitat Regions
• tropical
• terrestrial
• saltwater or marine

• Terrestrial Biomes
• desert or dune

• Aquatic Biomes
• coastal

• Other Habitat Features
• caves

• Range elevation

  10 (high) m

  32.81 (high) ft

• Range depth

  30 (high) m

  98.43 (high) ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Gala­pa­gos pen­guins are fairly small pen­guins, av­er­ag­ing only 53 cm in height and rang­ing in weight from 1.7 to 2.6 kg. Sex­ual di­mor­phism ex­ists, in that males are slightly larger than fe­males. Gala­pa­gos pen­guins are the small­est mem­bers of the Sphenis­cus or "banded" pen­guins. Mem­bers of this species are mainly black in color with white ac­cent­ing col­ors on var­i­ous lo­ca­tions of the body and a large white frontal area. As in all banded pen­guins, the head is black with a white mark that be­gins above both eyes and cir­cles back, down, and for­ward to the neck. They have the nar­row­est head-stripe of the banded pen­guins, a fac­tor that dis­tin­guishes them from the sim­i­lar Sphenis­cus mag­el­lan­i­cus. Below the head stripe, S. men­dicu­lus has a small black col­lar that merges into the back. Below the black col­lar there is an­other white stripe that runs the length of both sides of the body, fol­lowed by a black stripe that also runs the length of the body. (Lynch, 1997; Simp­son, 1976)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger

• Range mass

  1700 to 2600 g

  59.91 to 91.63 oz

• Average length

  53 cm

  20.87 in

Re­pro­duc­tion

Breed­ing in Gala­pa­gos pen­guins in­volves a fairly com­plex set of courtship rit­u­als be­fore cop­u­la­tion oc­curs. First, male Gala­pa­gos pen­guins must lo­cate a mate if they do not al­ready have one. Since these pen­guins gen­er­ally cop­u­late with the same mate through­out their lifes­pan, each year only a hand­ful of adult pen­guins need to at­tract a new mate. Those that are search­ing for a new mate ex­hibit var­i­ous courtship rit­u­als that at­tract a mate and strengthen the bond be­tween the two part­ners. Paired in­di­vid­u­als also par­tic­i­pate in courtship rit­u­als that en­hance the pair bond. Such courtship rit­u­als in­clude dis­plays of mu­tual preen­ing, flip­per pat­ting, and bill du­el­ing. After find­ing a mate, but be­fore cop­u­la­tion, each pen­guin pair builds a nest that is con­tin­u­ously ren­o­vated until the eggs are laid. When the com­plex courtship and ini­tial nest build­ing are com­plete, the pen­guins begin mat­ing. In Gala­pa­gos pen­guins, as in all other pen­guins, mat­ing in­volves a bal­anc­ing act in which the male climbs upon the back of the fe­male that is sprawled upon the ground on her stom­ach. Once on top, some­times after sev­eral tries, the male and fe­male cop­u­late--the process usu­ally only takes about one minute. Steady cop­u­la­tion usu­ally be­gins to occur early be­fore the first egg is laid. As egg lay­ing draws closer the pen­guins may cop­u­late more fre­quently, mount­ing up to 14 times a day. Once the eggs are laid, both male and fe­male S. men­dicu­lus care for the young, in­clud­ing in­cu­bat­ing the egg, fast­ing, and for­ag­ing for food. This re­pro­duc­tive process oc­curs every time a pair of Gala­pa­gos pen­guins mate, up to two or three times a year. (Gor­man, 1990; Lynch, 1997; Muller-Schwarze, 1984)

• Mating System
• monogamous

Gala­pa­gos pen­guins breed two to three times a year, pro­duc­ing two eggs per clutch. As the breed­ing sea­son lasts year round, most breed­ing oc­curs when­ever coastal wa­ters are cold enough and abun­dant with food sup­plies. These fac­tors, nec­es­sary for breed­ing, occur most often be­tween May and July, thus prompt­ing most of the breed­ing of Gala­pa­gos pen­guins to occur dur­ing these months. How­ever, as cli­matic changes are un­pre­dictable, breed­ing can occur at any time of the year when con­di­tions are fa­vor­able. Gala­pa­gos pen­guins con­struct nests in caves or vol­canic-formed cav­i­ties be­fore cop­u­la­tion takes place. At egg-lay­ing Gala­pa­gos pen­guins in­cu­bate their eggs, which lasts from 38 to 42 days. After hatch­ing, the same process of car­ing for the chick and for­ag­ing for food con­tin­ues. Chicks fledge at ap­prox­i­mately 60 days and are fully in­de­pen­dent within 3 to 6 months. Fe­male Gala­pa­gos pen­guins must wait an­other 3 to 4 years to reach sex­ual ma­tu­rity while males must wait an­other 4 to 6 years. (Lynch, 1997; Muller-Schwarze, 1984; Rich­dale, 1951; Stone­house, 1975)

Their nest­ing be­hav­ior is unique. Gala­pa­gos pen­guins will make their nests out of any re­sources that are avail­able and often steal peb­bles, sticks, and other com­po­nents from a neigh­bor­ing nest when the in­hab­i­tants are not pre­sent. (Lynch, 1997)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• year-round breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• oviparous

• Breeding interval

  Galapagos penguins generally breed two to three times a year, breeding when food supplies are plentiful in the surrounding coastal waters.

• Breeding season

  The breeding season of Galapagos penguins lasts throughout the year; however, most breeding takes place between May and July.

• Range eggs per season

  4 to 6

• Range time to hatching

  38 to 42 days

• Average fledging age

  60 days

• Range time to independence

  3 to 6 months

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  3 to 4 years

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  4 to 6 years

Parental in­vest­ment of Gala­pa­gos pen­guins is di­vided be­tween both males and fe­males. In­cu­ba­tion du­ties are shared and, when one in­cu­bates, the other ven­tures to coastal wa­ters to for­age for food. Sim­i­larly, at hatch­ing, one par­ent broods and guards the newly-hatched chick while the other for­ages for food to nour­ish it­self and the chick. The for­ag­ing par­ent re­turns with food to re­gur­gi­tate for the chick. This in­tense guard­ing and feed­ing process oc­curs for about 30 to 40 days, at which point the chick has grown sub­stan­tially and can then be left alone for pe­ri­ods of time while the par­ents for­age. This post-guard­ing pe­riod gen­er­ally lasts about one month, at its com­ple­tion the chick will have com­pleted its growth into an adult pen­guin. (Gor­man, 1990; Lynch, 1997; Muller-Schwarze, 1984)

• Parental Investment
• altricial
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Gala­pa­gos pen­guins can live for 15 to 20 years. Be­cause of high mor­tal­ity rates due to pre­da­tion, star­va­tion, cli­matic events, and human dis­tur­bance, most Gala­pa­gos pen­guins do not live to such ages.

• Typical lifespan
  Status: wild

  15 to 20 years

• Average lifespan
  Status: wild

  15-20 years

Be­hav­ior

Gala­pa­gos pen­guins are so­cial an­i­mals that live in large colonies. By liv­ing in large colonies, these pen­guins can take ad­van­tage of group hunt­ing and de­ter­ring preda­tors. These pen­guins are awk­ward on land as a re­sult of their short legs and small wings that pro­vide lit­tle bal­ance. When walk­ing, Gala­pa­gos pen­guins wad­dle with out­stretched wings. They are agile swim­mers. (Gor­man, 1990; Lynch, 1997; Simp­son, 1976)

• Key Behaviors
• terricolous
• natatorial
• diurnal
• motile
• sedentary
• territorial
• social
• colonial

Home Range

Sphenis­cus men­dicu­lus is en­demic to the Gala­pa­gos arch­i­pel­ago. Gala­pa­gos pen­guins roam for food within the coastal wa­ters of these is­lands, but spe­cific home ranges are not re­ported. Gala­pa­gos pen­guins live in colonies and are ter­ri­to­r­ial, pro­tect­ing their nest­ing area from neigh­bors. Ter­ri­tory size de­pends on pop­u­la­tion den­sity. (Lynch, 1997; Stone­house, 1975)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Gala­pa­gos pen­guins rely on a se­ries of vocal calls and sounds as well as a com­plex array of body move­ments for vary­ing com­mu­ni­ca­tion pur­poses. Vo­cal­iza­tions are cru­cial in help­ing to iden­tify mates and chicks. These calls, along with body move­ments such as wing-flap­ping, help to deter egg-snatch­ing preda­tors. In courtship rit­u­als, S. men­dicu­lus re­lies heav­ily on dis­plays and pos­tures that ad­ver­tise sex­ual sta­tus (paired or not paired), help to at­tract a mate, and re­in­force the bond be­tween the pair. Sphenis­cus men­dicu­lus also uses vo­cal­iza­tions and body move­ments for gen­eral com­mu­ni­ca­tion, such as greet­ings and dis­plays of emo­tion. (Sparks and Soper, 1987; Lynch, 1997; Sparks and Soper, 1987; Lynch, 1997; Sparks and Soper, 1987; Lynch, 1997; Sparks and Soper, 1987; Stone­house, 1975)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic

• Other Communication Modes
• duets

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Gala­pa­gos pen­guins are car­niv­o­rous and eat all types of small fish (no longer than 15 mm in length) and other small ma­rine in­ver­te­brates. Prey species in­clude an­chovies (En­graul­i­dae), sar­dines and pilchards (Cle­up­i­dae), and mul­lets (Mulgili­dae). Gala­pa­gos pen­guins use their short wings to swim through the water and their small, stout beaks to cap­ture small fish and other small ma­rine or­gan­isms. Gala­pa­gos pen­guins usu­ally hunt in groups and cap­ture small prey by seiz­ing them from below. The po­si­tion of their eyes in re­la­tion to the beak means that they see prey best from a po­si­tion below the prey. (Davis and Darby, 1990; Lynch, 1997; Muller-Schwarze, 1984)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • piscivore
  • eats non-insect arthropods

• Animal Foods
• fish
• mollusks
• aquatic crustaceans
• other marine invertebrates
• zooplankton

Pre­da­tion

Gala­pa­gos pen­guins lay their eggs in caves or holes in the vol­canic rock, re­duc­ing pre­da­tion on their eggs. They also vo­cal­ize, at­tack, and use body move­ments (wing-flap­ping, vocal calls, etc.) to frighten away preda­tors. This is most ef­fec­tive when a group of pen­guins con­fronts a preda­tor. Preda­tors on young pen­guins in­clude rats, crabs, and snakes. As adults, Gala­pa­gos pen­guins are preyed on by hawks and owls, as well as feral cats and dogs. When for­ag­ing for food in the water, Gala­pa­gos pen­guins are preyed on by sharks and other large, ma­rine an­i­mals. The pat­tern of black and white coun­ter­shad­ing on their body makes them dif­fi­cult to see un­der­wa­ter. A preda­tor look­ing from above will see a black-col­ored back­side of the pen­guin that blends in with the darker, deeper water. A preda­tor see­ing the pen­guin from below will see a white un­der­side that blends with the lighter-col­ored, shal­low water. (Davis and Darby, 1990; Muller-Schwarze, 1984; Simp­son, 1976; Sparks and Soper, 1987)

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic

• Known Predators

  • Galapagos rice rats (Oryzomys galapagoensis)
  • Sally lighfoot crabs (Grapsus grapsus)
  • Galapagos snakes (Dromicus slevini and Dromicus dorsalis)
  • Galapagos hawks (Buteo galapagoensis)
  • short-eared owls (Asio flammeus)
  • barn owls (Tyto alba)
  • domestic cats (Felis silvestris)
  • domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Gala­pa­gos pen­guins are major preda­tors of small fish and other ma­rine in­ver­te­brates in the coastal wa­ters of the Gala­pa­gos. They also act as prey for ma­rine and avian preda­tors in the Gala­pa­gos. (Davis and Darby, 1990; Simp­son, 1976)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Gala­pa­gos pen­guins pro­vide eco­nomic value to hu­mans who use this species and its coastal habi­tat to pro­mote eco­tourism. Many tourists and avid bird­watch­ers will pay to travel and visit the habi­tats of the Gala­pa­gos pen­guins. (Har­ris, 1974)

• Positive Impacts
• ecotourism

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Gala­pa­gos pen­guins may cause minor eco­nomic harm to the seafood in­dus­try for hu­mans. As S. men­dicu­lus re­lies heav­ily on a diet of small fish, such as an­chovies and sar­dines, col­lec­tively the species can have an ef­fect on the num­ber of small fish avail­able to catch for human con­sump­tion in their range. It has been shown that a pen­guin pop­u­la­tion can eat up­wards of 6,000 to 7,000 tons of food lo­cally, ap­prox­i­mately 3,000 tons of that total has some eco­nomic value to hu­mans. (Simp­son, 1976)

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Ac­cord­ing to the IUCN Red List and the United States En­dan­gered Species Act, Gala­pa­gos pen­guins are cur­rently listed as en­dan­gered. Due to cli­matic changes brought about by El Niño and La Niña cy­cles, the food sup­ply avail­able to the Gala­pa­gos pen­guins varies greatly. These un­pre­dictable shifts in food sup­ply often lead to star­va­tion and deaths and a sub­stan­tial de­cline in the al­ready dwin­dling pen­guin pop­u­la­tion. Fur­ther­more, human dis­tur­bances and pre­da­tion are major fac­tors con­tribut­ing to the de­cline of S. men­dicu­lus. Human dis­tur­bance is the main cause for ecosys­tem harm that af­fects the nest­ing grounds of Gala­pa­gos pen­guins. Few ef­forts are un­der­way to pro­tect S. men­dicu­lus. How­ever, re­cently the Gala­pa­gos Con­ser­va­tion Trust launched the Sylvia Har­court-Car­rasco Bird Life Fund for Gala­pa­gos that will aim much of its ef­forts at con­serv­ing the pop­u­la­tion of Gala­pa­gos pen­guins. This fund pro­vides a push for the con­ser­va­tion of S. men­dicu­lus that may lead to other con­ser­va­tion ac­tions, and even­tu­ally to a re­stored, healthy pop­u­la­tion. (Ben­thall, 2006; Bing­ham, 2006)

• IUCN Red List

  Endangered
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Endangered
  More information

• US Migratory Bird Act

  No special status

• US Federal List

  Endangered

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Joshua Wahlstrom (au­thor), Kala­ma­zoo Col­lege, Ann Fraser (ed­i­tor, in­struc­tor), Kala­ma­zoo Col­lege.

Ref­er­ences

En­cy­clopae­dia Bri­tan­nica, Inc. 2005. Gala­pa­gos Is­lands. Pp. 80 in The New En­cy­clopae­dia Bri­tan­nica, Mi­cropae­dia, Vol. Vol­ume 5, 15th Edi­tion Edi­tion. Chicago: En­cy­clopae­dia Bri­tan­nica, Inc..

2002. "Longevity and Causes of Death" (On-line). Sea­world and Busch Gar­dens. Ac­cessed No­vem­ber 11, 2006 at http://​www.​seaworld.​org/​infobooks/​Penguins/​longevity.​html.

Mar­shall Edi­tions De­vel­op­ments Lim­ited. 1990. Pen­guins, The Gala­pa­gos Pen­guin. Pp. 49 in J El­ph­ick, ed. The Il­lus­trated En­cy­clo­pe­dia of Birds: The De­fin­i­tive Ref­er­ence to Birds of the World, Vol. 1, 1st Edi­tion. New York, NY: Pren­tice Hall Press.

Ben­thall, S. 2006. "Cur­rent Pro­grammes" (On-line). Gala­pa­gos Con­ser­va­tion Trust. Ac­cessed No­vem­ber 14, 2006 at http://​www.​gct.​org/​funded.​html.

Bing­ham, M. 2006. "Gala­pa­gos Pen­guin" (On-line). Ac­cessed No­vem­ber 14, 2006 at http://​www.​penguins.​cl/​galapagos-penguins.​htm.

Boersma, P. 1998. Pop­u­la­tion trends of the Gala­pa­gos pen­guin: im­pacts of El Nino and La Nina. The Con­dor, 100: 245-253.

Davis, L., J. Darby. 1990. Pen­guin Bi­ol­ogy. San Diego, CA: Aca­d­e­mic Press, Inc.

Davis, L., M. Ren­ner. 2003. Pen­guins. New Haven, CT: Yale Uni­ver­sity Press.

Gor­man, J. 1990. The Total Pen­guin. New York, NY: Pren­tice Hall Press.

Har­ris, M. 1974. A Field Guide To The Birds of Gala­pa­gos. Glas­gow: William Collins Sons & Co Ltd.

Lynch, W. 1997. Pen­guins of the World. Buf­falo, NY: Fire­fly Books (U.S.) Inc.

Muller-Schwarze, D. 1984. The Be­hav­ior of Pen­guins: Adapted to Ice and Trop­ics. Al­bany, NY: State Uni­ver­sity of New York Press.

Rich­dale, L. 1951. Sex­ual Be­hav­ior in Pen­guins. Lawrence, KS: Uni­ver­sity of Kansas Press.

Sib­ley, C., B. Mon­roe Jr. 1990. Dis­tri­b­u­tion and Tax­on­omy of Birds of the World. New Haven, CT: Yale Uni­ver­sity Press.

Simp­son, G. 1976. Pen­guins: Past and Pre­sent, Here and There. New Haven, CT: Yale Uni­ver­sity Press.

Sparks, J., T. Soper. 1987. Pen­guins. New York, NY: Facts on File, Inc.

Stone­house, B. 1975. The Bi­ol­ogy of Pen­guins. Bal­ti­more, MD: Uni­ver­sity Park Press.