Category: Galápagos

When I first became obsessed with penguins about 20 years ago, after an expedition to Antarctica and then volunteering for a penguin census in Argentina, there were 17 species of penguin, according to this Penguin Bible. And, because you must know this, here they are, divided by group:

Large penguins: King penguin, emperor penguin

Brush-tailed penguins: Adélie penguin, chinstrap penguin, gentoo penguin

Yellow-Eyed penguins: yellow-eyed penguin

Crested penguins: southern rockhopper penguin, northern rockhopper penguin, penguin erect-crested penguin, Fiordland penguin (Tawaki), Snares penguin, macaroni/royal penguin

Banded penguins: African penguin, Magellanic penguin, Humboldt penguin, Galápagos penguin

Little (or Blue) penguins: Little penguin

Around the time I was getting to know penguins, the rockhoppers began to be recognized as two different species — and while Penguins lists the macaroni and the royal penguins as one species, some ornithologists consider them to be two species, which brings the number to 18.

In addition, some research advocates splitting the southern rockhopper penguin into two species (eastern and western). Other evidence indicates the little penguin should be considered two species as well.

And, most recently, research suggests that the gentoo species be split into four species. (This article also has background about penguins’ 22-million-year history. Check it out.)

It’s all quite fascinating … and even with my penguin obsession I’m having a hard time keeping track. I hope one day to meet all the species of the penguin world … and this new information definitely makes my plans a bit more interesting.

But for now, the official number is 18. And counting.

And if you want to meet some penguins without getting on a plane, here’s where you can find them in my novels!

For Adélie, chinstrap, gentoo, and Magellanic penguins — and a lone emperor:

For Galápagos penguins:

And stay tuned! While I didn’t plan to be a penguin novelist, I just can’t seem to escape them. Since writing My Last Continent and Floreana, I’ve been fortunate to meet little/blue penguins, Tawaki, yellow-eyed penguins, and most recently, the shy and elusive Humboldts.

There’s a scene in Floreana in which Mallory — a penguin researcher returning to the field after a decade away — tells her intern Hannah about the effects of weather on the lives of Galápagos penguins. Though this scene is fictional, the information about the weather and the penguins is real.

“One of the reasons these penguins are endangered is climate change, right?” I say. “Two weather patterns affect them—La Niña, which we’re experiencing now, and El Niño, which has become both more frequent and more severe.” I wave my arm toward the water. “Normally, the cold currents bring the fish and crustaceans to the surface, which is great for penguins. But during El Niño, the water is warmer, which means this food isn’t available. During the last really bad El Niño, back in 1996 and ’97, food was so scarce we lost more than sixty percent of the penguins.”

“It was ’97 and ’98, actually.”

I hadn’t realized Gavin was still nearby, listening. I look at him and again get the sense that none of this will be easy. It feels as if he wants to remind me of how long it’s been, of how hard it will be to step back into my decade-old shoes …

… “So if this is a La Niña year,” Hannah says, “it’ll be good for the penguins because of the cooler water?”

“Good for penguins,” I say, “but it also means less rain and a rougher season for the tortoises and all the animals on land.”

It’s never all good news; this I remember well. In a season when one species wins, others will lose.

In addition to the 1997-98 El Niño event mentioned above, another in 1982-83 caused even more damage — more than 70 percent of Galápagos penguins didn’t survive.

And the El Niño we’re facing right now could be even worse.

NOAA is currently looking at the possibility of a “super El Niño” — a weather event in which the temperatures in the Pacific Ocean are far higher than normal and could wreak havoc on ecosystems. As this article highlights, the effect of a super El Niño could be catastrophic for Galápagos penguins — there are only 2,000 left in the world, and to lose even a small number is devastating.

There’s not much we can about the weather — other than, long term, give up our fossil fuels and halt global warming — but the good news is that we can all help penguins by avoiding seafood and especially fish oil and krill supplements (there are so many better plant-based options!).

Much of the sea surrounding the Galápagos Islands is protected — however, poachers constantly enter protected waters to take fish (and penguins, who are caught as bycatch). And penguins don’t always stay within these protected areas … they go where the food is, which means they’re usually out there fishing where all the humans are fishing. And the penguins cannot catch what they need when they’re up against commercial fishing vessels.

With the oceans and their creatures under so much stress, leaving the seafood for the animals is the best way to help heal the oceans and help the penguins and other animals thrive. 🐧

While we all have seen that AI is used in ways both good and evil, here’s an example of where it does some good: monitoring vulnerable wildlife. This Smart Island Monitoring system in use on Floreana Island in the Galápagos offers “an unprecedented ability to detect wildlife activity and inform conservation decisions instantly, even in rugged, inaccessible terrain.”

The system has already flagged 1,500 events that needed conservation follow-up, saving 110 staff hours in the meantime. The system also allows for the tracking of endemic species, which is essential to protecting the animals as well as their fragile ecosystems.

It’s great to see conservation being made more efficient … the more animals and landscapes we can protect, the better! Learn more at Island Conservation.

One of the biggest challenges in saving endemic species in the Galápagos Islands is tackling the problem of invasive species (including feral domestic animals). The Galápagos is leading the way in ending pet overpopulation … and this amazing story shows the rest of the world how to do it.

The Galápagos Islands are uniquely motivated to get rid of unwanted pets, who endanger local wildlife. But every city and country can learn from how domestic animals are being successfully managed in the islands.

As this story makes clear, this is not just “the quirk of a remote island.” This is multiple organizations (including government, cities, and the national park) working together. And they’re not doing anything we don’t already know works: spay/neuter, microchipping, and education. But this program goes a few steps beyond to include short-term instead of long-term sheltering, a ban on the commercial sale of dogs and cats, and strong enforcement of responsible ownership (such as fencing requirements and mandatory reporting of lost pets). As the story shows, “The Galápagos didn’t discover a new principle; they simply implemented the one the U.S. long claimed to believe in.”

For these islands, managing companion animals will not only protect the local wildlife but eliminate the suffering of lost, unwanted, and feral dogs and cats … which is something we need in the U.S. and just about everywhere.

“While the Galápagos is making shelters obsolete, the U.S. is building them larger. While the Galápagos has quietly demonstrated what happens when you invest in crisis prevention, the U.S. has built an entire financial ecosystem around crisis response. … The Galápagos is not a small, lucky exception. It is a proof of concept; a functioning, scalable, prevention-based system that solves a problem most U.S. agencies have been unable to solve. It is, quite simply, a blueprint.”

In real life and in my novel FLOREANA, and in the 1930s and the 2020s, Post Office Bay has been a place where visitors to the island can leave and receive mail.

Back in the 1930s — when the Dore Strauch, Frederich Ritter, and the island’s other settlers rarely left — they would leave mail in the barrel at Post Office Bay, where visiting ships would take their letters to the next port of call. In fact, the tradition began far earlier, back in the eighteenth century.

Today, if you visit the Galápagos island of Floreana, you can leave a postcard for someone … and it just may get delivered! To this day, visitors to Post Office Bay go through the mail, find a postcard addressed to someone who lives near them, and hand-deliver it. No stamps required!