Humboldt penguin  (Spheniscus humboldti)

Penguins have historically been heavily hunted for meat, oil and skins and suffered from unsustainable egg collecting (7). Currently, the principal risks to Humboldt penguins come from human over-harvesting of the fish stocks, especially anchovies, and exploiting the birds' guano beds, using the mineral-rich guano for fertiliser. Removal of the guano deprives the birds from constructing nest burrows and leaves the eggs and chicks vulnerable to weather and predators (3).

On the mainland nesting sites, wild dogs take eggs, chicks and even adult birds. Natural predators on land include foxes and caracaras (a large native hawk), whilst in the water the penguins fall prey to fur seals, sharks and whales. A more alarming trend over recent decades has been the effects of El Niño-related events. This is known to affect penguin numbers in two ways; by displacing the Humboldt Current with warmer, less food-rich water, and raising severe storms that can wash out the nesting colonies (3). There are also a large number of birds caught as by-catch (7), and they are constantly at risk from marine pollution (3).

Following a series of disastrous breeding years, which included two El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events, a population and habitat viability survey was carried out in 1998 on the Humboldt penguin. This concluded that, using figures for current breeding trends and estimating a world population of between 3,300 and 12,000 breeding pairs, the species was likely to become extinct within the next century (2). Legislation to assist the recovery of the Humboldt penguin has been passed in Chile, including a 30 year moratorium on killing or capturing the birds, and protection of the four principal breeding colonies, although enforcement is low (7). In Peru, the major colonies are also protected and the extraction of guano is managed by government (2).

Further proposed conservation targets to save this species include the creation of marine nature reserves around the main breeding grounds, greater care over the extraction of guano, reducing the fish harvests during ENSO events and setting up ‘awareness' programmes to limit the hunting of penguins and accidental entanglement (by-catch) in fishing nets (2).