They had been found in different locations on the coast of Buenos Aires, in Argentina, exhausted and with evident signs of malnutrition and weakness: four adult specimens and seven young people penguinsprobably were born in the last reproductive season in Patagonia.
The lack of food has actually brought them to an energy collapse that forced them to leave the sea to look for shelter: the penguins, in fact, not being able to feed correctly, lose their body fat that allows them to maintain the temperature at sea. Without that protection, their body goes into hypothermia And they are looking for the mainland to survive.
Read also: no, the salmon do not swim free at sea: they live in a cage in intensive farms (and everyone must know)
Without forces, they were thus taken under the protective wing and rehabilitated by the Fundación Mundo Marino. Two months of rehabilitation who ended with their exciting Reintroduction on the central beach of San Clemente del Tuyúin the presence of students of a local school.
View this post on Instagram
The foundation staff accompanied the penguins along the beach to the shore, in the province of Buenos Aires, where they entered the water and started swimming towards the open sea.
Each specimen has been equipped with subcutaneous microchip, a device of the size of a rice grain that allows individual identification in the event of future sightings or returns. This system, used standardized by rescue centers around the world, contains a unique code that can be read with a radio frequency scanner. Thanks to this technology, it is possible to reconstruct the medical history of the animal, to know if it has already been treated previously and contribute to long -term conservation and monitoring efforts.
What do we know about the penguins of Magellano
This species, which according to the international union for the conservation of nature (iucn), is found in a state of “Minimum concern”is found along the entire South American coast, both in our Argentine Patagonia and in southern Chile.
Its reproduction cycle takes place between September and March. After this phase, they lose the plumage and begin their migratory journey between the end of March and the beginning of April, which can reach the latitude of Rio de Janeiro. During this annual journey of about 6 months they can travel a total of 5 thousand kilometers. They feed on anchovies, sardines and nasel, and then of molluscs, such as squid, and crustaceans, like prawns. The migratory journey is linked to the seasonal movement made by the excitement, one of its main prey, which during the Argentine winter, after migrating by Patagonia, lays the eggs on the coasts of Brazil.
