WCS 3-Sentence Science

Penguins Are Not Eating Your Lunch

June 21, 2019

Credit: Cristian Samper/WCS

Each year, Wildlife Conservation Society scientists publish more than 300 peer-reviewed studies and papers. “WCS 3-Sentence Science” is a regular tip-sheet — in bite sized helpings — of some of this published work.

Here we present work by WCS Argentina’s Pablo Yorio on the relationship between Magellanic penguins and fisheries in northern Argentina:

1. Researchers examined the diets of Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) at two breeding colonies in northern Argentina that were close to commercial fishing areas.
2. They found that the diets varied with each colony and included a variety of prey species, but commercially valuable Argentine Hake (Merluccius hubbsi) and Argentine Shortfin Squid (Illex argentinus) were not widely consumed.
3. These findings suggest a low trophic overlap with commercial fisheries, and helps further the understanding potential penguin-fishery interactions.

Study and Journal: “Diet composition of expanding breeding populations of the Magellanic Penguin” from Marine Biology Research
WCS Co-Author(s): Pablo Yorio , WCS Argentina Program

For more information, contact: Stephen Sautner, 718–220–3682, ssautner@wcs.org.