penguins of Argentina - Magellanic penguins, Cabo Virgenes penguin colony, Rio Gallegos, Santa Cruz, Argentina.

Cabo Virgenes is one of the largest Magellanic penguin colonies in Argentina, with a population of about 120,000 breeding pairs. It is also one of our long-term study sites, where we study population trends, breeding success, chick mortality and the effects of tourism. With Park Wardens protecting the site, and our studies monitoring the effects of tourism, tourists can be confident that they are not harming the wildlife they come to visit. A no-fishing zone placed around the colony also helps to ensure that the penguins' food resources are not depleted by commercial fishing, as they are in the Falkland Islands. See articles Revista Chilena de Historia Natural (2002): The decline of Falkland Islands penguins in the presence of a commercial fishing industry, and Falklands Penguins Starve to Death.

The reward for all this protection has been a rapid increase in population size over the last few years. The Cabo Virgenes colony stood at 90,000 breeding pairs in the 1990s, whilst the 2004 census we conducted on behalf of the Argentine government recorded a population of 120,000 breeding pairs. This rapid increase in population comes at a time when these same penguins are crashing in number just across the water in the Falklands, due to the Falkland Islands Government's refusal to protect penguins in the way that Chile and Argentina have done.