The African Black-footed, or Jackass, penguin lives around the southern tip of Africa. The Peruvian penguin, also known as the Humboldt penguin, lives on the coast of Peru. The Galapagos penguin is the smallest and most unusual of this group, and it breeds exclusively on the Galapagos Islands, which are a national park of Ecuador that is located on the equator. All of these penguins have dark gray rings or bands that loop over their white chests and down their flanks. The Magellanic and Galapagos penguins have two dark bands, while the Black-footed and Peruvian penguins only have one.
Magellanic penguins are the largest of the four ringed penguins and they are also the most numerous.
They are about 27 inches in length, and their average weight is about 7.7 pounds. Bare skin can be seen around their eyes, and this helps in the dispersal of heat when the bird leaves the cold water to rest on the relatively warm shore. Magellanic penguin colonies are underground, and the penguins dig burrows in which they lay their eggs. Magellanic penguins are partial to eating sardines, but they also eat other small fish, along with squid and cuttlefish. Before we finish this expedition, there are two more scientists that I want to introduce.