10 Amazing Facts About Galapagos Penguins

These 10 Amazing Facts about the Galapagos Penguin will make you want to visit this bird. Galapagos Penguins are unique and unlike other penguins! They are great fishers and love to swim. Can you guess where they live? Hint: it’s in the name. Galapagos Penguins are certainly impressive creatures!

10 Amazing Facts about Galapagos Penguins

1. Galapagos Penguins are easily identified by their black-and-white coloring.

Galapagos Penguins are medium-sized with blackish coloring on most of their body. They have white bellies with black and pink bills (beaks). It’s the smallest penguin of its genus! This means a group of closely related species.

2. Galapagos Penguins shed their feathers.

These penguins do something called molting, which means shedding old feathers. Galapagos Penguins molt while on land and don’t go into the sea while it occurs.

3. Galapagos Penguins live off the coast of Ecuador.

Galapagos Penguins reside in the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Penguins who don’t breed sometimes travel to places like Santiago and Santa Cruz.

4. The Galapagos Penguins have an epic habitat!

The Galapagos Penguins live in sheltered bays that were formed a really long time ago by lava. Good thing the lava has cooled down!

5. Galapagos Penguins like the beach.

Do you like the beach? These penguins do! They need coastline beaches with gradual inclines, not steep cliffs, so that they can come ashore.

6. Galapagos Penguins love to eat fish.

The Galapagos Penguin’s menu is made up of small fish such as sardines, mullets, and anchovies. All of the fishing is done close to shore.

7. Galapagos Penguins are great fishers!

These penguins fish by diving underneath schools of fish and catching them on the way up, or by grabbing fish on the edges of the school. The Galapagos Penguin’s fishing patterns help other birds fish too by keeping the schools of fish close to the surface.

8. Galapagos Penguins have three types of calls.

The penguins use three different calls to communicate. The “donkey-bray,” which starts with low huffs and is followed by three high-pitched brays, is used for breeding. The “courtship” bray is used when penguins need a break from taking care of the nest, and the “haw” call is used to contact other penguins on land or water.

9. The Galapagos Penguin walks, hops, and swims.

To get around on land, these penguins hop over crevices or use their wings to balance when walking. Their wings also help them to swim! The Galapagos Penguins usually spend all day swimming and come back to land at sunset to sleep.

10. The Galapagos Penguin is an endangered species.

The Galapagos Penguins are endangered, which means there aren’t very many left. This is because of unusually warm waters, feral cats hunting the penguins, and humans spilling oil or fishing where the penguins need to fish.

Ornithology

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