| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
| Galapagos Penguin Endangered | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||
| Spheniscus mendiculus Sundevall, 1871 |
The Galapagos Penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus) is a penguin endemic to the Galapagos Islands. It is the only penguin to live on the equator. Its nearest relatives are the African Penguin, the Magellanic Penguin and the Humboldt Penguin.
Galapagos Penguins grow to 53 cm tall. They have a black head with a white border running from behind the eye, around the black ear-coverts and chin, to join on the throat. They have blackish-grey upperparts and whitish underparts, with two black bands across the breast, the lower band extending down the flanks to the thigh. Juveniles differ in having a wholly dark head, greyer on side and chin, and no breast-band.
The current status of this penguin is endangered, with an estimated population of 1200. In recent decades this species has been influenced primarily by the effects of the El Niño Southern Oscillation on the availability of shoaling fish.