Galapagos Penguins and El Nino

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Galápagos Penguins and El Nino

Interview of Dr. Dee Boersma by Chris Peterson

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[Call of Galápagos Penguin (mating moan) + waves]
Mary McCann: University of Washington professor Dee Boersma cares deeply about Galápagos Penguins.

Dee Boersma: I went to the Galápagos for the first time in 1970, ‘cuz I thought “What a bizarre thing… What is a penguin doing living on the Equator? It’s because the Galápagos, they’re unusually cold for an equatorial region.
 
MM: It can be a **very trying environment.

DB: The Galápagos Penguins really have a hard time with heat stress…. So black lava and of course the black and white tuxedos that penguins have, when you’re standing in the sun, it gets pretty hot! It’s not so bad if you can jump in the water, but when you have to raise young and lay eggs, you gotta find a place that’s really shady.

MM: Dee has been studying these endangered penguins for a long time. She discovered that an increase in El Niño activity threatened penguin nest sites. So in 2010 Dee’s team and their partners at Galápagos National Park built about 120 “penguin condos” two meters above the high tide line.

DB: I care about penguins ‘cuz I guess I fell in love with them… hearing their haunting cry in the evening as they’re getting ready to breed and look for mates, I just found it so magical.

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Sounds of Galápagos Penguins recorded by Dee Boersma.
Producer: John Kessler
Managing Producer: Jason Saul
Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone
© 2018 Tune In to Nature.org          October 2018     Narrator:  Mary McCann

ID#    penguin-boersmad-01-2011-05-02 penguin-boersmad-01b