Magellanic penguin🐧

Photo: CC BY-SA 3.0

SpeciesSphenisciformesSpheniscidae
Birds

🐧Magellanic Penguin

Spheniscus magellanicus (J.R.Forster, 1781)

The Magellanic penguin is a South American penguin, breeding in coastal Patagonia, including Argentina, Chile, and the Falkland Islands, with some migrating to Brazil and Uruguay, where they are occasionally seen as far north as Espírito Santo. Vagrants have been found in El Salvador, the Avian Island in Antarctica, Australia, and New Zealand. It is the most numerous of the Spheniscus banded penguins. Its nearest relatives are the African penguin, the Humboldt penguin, and the Galápagos penguins. The Magellanic penguin was named after Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who spotted the birds in 1520. The species is listed as being of Least Concern by the IUCN.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
None yet
Photos
2
Measurements
13
vs you
≈ 1/15th of your weight
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2020.

Population trendDecreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
4.11 kg
Body length
0.7 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
30 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Magellanic Penguin

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
4.11 kgrecord 4.1 kg · SeaLifeBase
AVONET
Other figures ↓

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

By sex

  • Female3.77 kgWikidataQ207246
  • Male4.47 kgWikidataQ207246

Figures vary

  • 4 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Body length
0.7 mmaximum recorded, total length
SeaLifeBase
Details ↓

Source: SeaLifeBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Tail length
0.02 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Wing length
0.11 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Beak length
0.06 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Tarsus length
0.04 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
30 years
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Gestation
40 days
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Litter size
1
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Trophic level
Carnivore
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Habitat
Marine
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Lifestyle
Aquatic
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
4.1 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Magellanic Penguin yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

More

More about the Magellanic Penguin

In other languages
Pinguim-de-magalhães (pt), pingüí de Magallanes (ca), tučňák magellanský (cs), Magellanpingvin (da), Magellan-Pinguin (de), Spheniscus magellanicus (es) … and 25 more languages
Videos

No videos of the Magellanic Penguin yet.

We have 44,653 videos so far, and none of them features this animal yet.

All videos →
Tools

Compare the Magellanic Penguin

Pick a tool — the Magellanic Penguin is already selected.