1 00:00:09,209 --> 00:00:16,916 Peru s arid coastline is home to one of the world s great natural spectacles. 2 00:00:17,017 --> 00:00:22,255 In Punta San Juan, where the desert meets the sea, the seabirds reign. 3 00:00:22,355 --> 00:00:28,862 These are like some of the largest aggregations of seabirds in the world. 4 00:00:28,962 --> 00:00:34,434 And they aren t alone thousands of South American sea lions and fur seals add to the 5 00:00:34,534 --> 00:00:41,007 impressive cacophony of sounds. 6 00:00:41,107 --> 00:00:48,948 You can find so many numbers of animals in a small place. 7 00:00:49,049 --> 00:00:50,817 It's so unique. 8 00:00:50,917 --> 00:00:57,757 It is amidst this explosion of life - these hundreds of thousands of guanay cormorants, 9 00:00:57,857 --> 00:01:05,265 Peruvian pelicans and Peruvian boobies, that another, slightly clumsier, species of bird 10 00:01:05,365 --> 00:01:08,268 lives as well. 11 00:01:08,368 --> 00:01:13,006 Punta San Juan is the most important breeding colony for Humboldt penguins in Peru. 12 00:01:13,106 --> 00:01:18,311 We can have 2000 breeding pairs reproducing at the same time. 13 00:01:18,411 --> 00:01:21,748 Humboldt penguins are very charismatic. 14 00:01:21,848 --> 00:01:28,988 The reason why Humboldt penguins are living so far north near the tropics is because they 15 00:01:29,089 --> 00:01:33,493 live in an environment with cold water. 16 00:01:33,593 --> 00:01:39,799 These flightless birds may look adorably goofy on land, but they are highly adapted for life 17 00:01:39,899 --> 00:01:41,634 at sea. 18 00:01:41,734 --> 00:01:49,109 They are like torpedo-shaped seabirds It's like they fly underwater and they can reach 19 00:01:49,209 --> 00:01:55,482 high speeds, they are very, very fast swimmers. 20 00:01:55,582 --> 00:01:58,885 What is life like for a desert penguin? 21 00:01:58,985 --> 00:02:27,514 And what challenges do these animals face in today s ever-changing world? 22 00:02:27,614 --> 00:02:33,119 Major funding for this program was provided by the Batchelor Foundation, encouraging people 23 00:02:33,219 --> 00:02:42,162 to preserve and protect America s underwater resources and by the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, 24 00:02:42,262 --> 00:02:46,332 strengthening America s future through education. 25 00:02:46,432 --> 00:02:52,906 Additional funding was provided by The William J. and Tina Rosenberg Foundation and by the 26 00:02:53,006 --> 00:03:01,714 Do Unto Others Trust. 27 00:03:01,814 --> 00:03:05,251 This is an avian domain. 28 00:03:05,351 --> 00:03:11,524 Located in Peru s southern Ica province, Punta San Juan is part of the Peruvian government s 29 00:03:11,624 --> 00:03:16,496 national reserve network of 33 islands and peninsulas. 30 00:03:16,596 --> 00:03:22,869 This reserve s objective is protecting seabirds and marine mammals. 31 00:03:22,969 --> 00:03:27,440 Especially seabirds that produce guano. 32 00:03:27,540 --> 00:03:30,210 Initially this all started just for the guano birds. 33 00:03:30,310 --> 00:03:34,447 To have more guano and be able to export and sell this commodity. 34 00:03:34,547 --> 00:03:40,420 This was a very important economic activity in Peru in the past. 35 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:45,124 After a while we also started taking into consideration other species. 36 00:03:45,225 --> 00:03:56,269 So there were laws to avoid, for instance, hunting penguins and protecting fur seals, 37 00:03:56,369 --> 00:03:59,806 sea lions. 38 00:03:59,906 --> 00:04:05,178 Guano - the poop produced in large quantities by guano birds like guanay cormorants and 39 00:04:05,278 --> 00:04:12,218 Peruvian pelicans and boobies, is harvested commercially for use as fertilizer. 40 00:04:12,318 --> 00:04:17,924 Peru is the largest guano producer in the world, and its guano reserves are co-managed 41 00:04:18,024 --> 00:04:24,097 by two government agencies the Agriculture Ministry s AGRORURAL which monitors the 42 00:04:24,197 --> 00:04:30,637 guano birds and oversees the harvest process, and the Environmental Ministry s SERNANP, 43 00:04:30,737 --> 00:04:37,010 which is in charge of managing the reserves. 44 00:04:37,110 --> 00:04:44,450 At Punta San Juan, these two agencies work in partnership with scientists from the Punta 45 00:04:44,550 --> 00:04:50,590 San Juan Program, a long-term monitoring and field research project. 46 00:04:50,690 --> 00:04:58,031 Around the 80s, Dr. Patricia Majluf started researching fur seal ecology and population 47 00:04:58,131 --> 00:05:02,168 dynamics here at Punta San Juan. 48 00:05:02,268 --> 00:05:13,513 Later, researchers came not only to study fur seals, but also penguins. 49 00:05:13,613 --> 00:05:18,484 Field coordinator Marco Carde a is passionate about the Humboldt penguins. 50 00:05:18,584 --> 00:05:24,324 He s been monitoring the local colony since 2001. 51 00:05:24,424 --> 00:05:30,963 We do weekly counts to see how the population is doing over the years, and then we can make 52 00:05:31,064 --> 00:05:37,503 annual, seasonal and overall comparisons. 53 00:05:37,603 --> 00:05:43,509 The cold Humboldt current is what makes this region one of the most productive marine ecosystems 54 00:05:43,609 --> 00:05:47,914 in the world. 55 00:05:48,014 --> 00:05:53,219 As trade winds push the Pacific ocean s upper layer of water offshore, it s replaced 56 00:05:53,319 --> 00:05:58,791 with colder, nutrient-rich waters that well up from the deep. 57 00:05:58,891 --> 00:06:04,130 These nutrients fuel plankton growth near the surface, which forms the base of this 58 00:06:04,230 --> 00:06:09,235 vibrant marine food chain. 59 00:06:09,335 --> 00:06:19,412 Punta San Juan is special because it's close to the core upwelling system of the Humboldt 60 00:06:19,512 --> 00:06:23,583 current. 61 00:06:23,683 --> 00:06:28,388 The distance from the coast to where food is available is fairly short. 62 00:06:28,488 --> 00:06:36,362 This allows the animals to return for mating and breeding. 63 00:06:36,462 --> 00:06:43,302 At Punta San Juan, Humboldt penguins have two breeding periods each year. 64 00:06:43,403 --> 00:06:48,908 One starts in April going until July, and the other one goes from August or September 65 00:06:49,008 --> 00:06:50,576 until December. 66 00:06:50,676 --> 00:06:55,381 At Punta San Juan Humboldt penguins breed in three different types of nests. 67 00:06:55,481 --> 00:07:03,289 The first ones are on the edge of these clifftops, in areas where there is a lot of guano. 68 00:07:03,389 --> 00:07:07,260 The other type of nest they use is what we call a burrow. 69 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:10,797 They are like holes with tunnels inside. 70 00:07:10,897 --> 00:07:20,873 And finally, we have a nest that appear between rocks and boulders on crevices. 71 00:07:20,973 --> 00:07:26,646 Given the penguin s skittish nature, scientists monitor the superficial nests from a safe 72 00:07:26,746 --> 00:07:27,847 distance. 73 00:07:27,947 --> 00:07:30,249 Humboldt penguins are very scared of humans. 74 00:07:30,349 --> 00:07:36,122 And if a researcher approached these nests, it will create a chaos and a lot of these 75 00:07:36,222 --> 00:07:41,894 nests will be lost because if they leave the nest content without protection, seagulls, 76 00:07:41,994 --> 00:07:45,965 turkey vultures will predate on them. 77 00:07:46,065 --> 00:07:49,669 We monitor them with help of a telescope. 78 00:07:49,769 --> 00:07:54,006 We count the nests, we count the number of pairs breeding there, the number of adults, 79 00:07:54,106 --> 00:08:01,080 the number of chicks and this help us understand their breeding cycle and also their population 80 00:08:01,180 --> 00:08:03,282 trends. 81 00:08:03,382 --> 00:08:09,589 Humboldt penguins tend to be monogamous, and after mating the female lays two eggs, roughly 82 00:08:09,689 --> 00:08:13,793 four days apart. 83 00:08:13,893 --> 00:08:16,929 These two eggs are cared for by both parents. 84 00:08:17,029 --> 00:08:23,069 They take turns staying with the eggs during the 40 day incubation period. 85 00:08:23,169 --> 00:08:42,188 Once the eggs hatch, both parents take turns feeding the chicks over a 72 to 75 day period. 86 00:08:42,288 --> 00:08:48,227 To find food, groups of penguins leave their nests each morning to make the long journey 87 00:08:48,327 --> 00:08:54,400 across the barren desert and down steep cliffs to reach the sea. 88 00:08:54,500 --> 00:09:06,245 Along the way, the hesitant birds frequently stop to contemplate their next move, or get 89 00:09:06,345 --> 00:09:09,181 scared and turn around. 90 00:09:09,282 --> 00:09:28,935 And sometimes, aggressive and raucous neighbors block the path. 91 00:09:29,035 --> 00:09:37,410 Once the penguins reach the water, it s time for a bath. 92 00:09:37,510 --> 00:09:43,149 The birds need to preen and streamline their feathers to insure proper insulation before 93 00:09:43,249 --> 00:09:48,454 venturing out to feed in the cold water. 94 00:09:48,554 --> 00:09:56,062 Meanwhile, the nesting colony is a loud and busy place. 95 00:09:56,162 --> 00:10:01,233 Patient parents guard their nests and chicks while they wait for their mates to return 96 00:10:01,334 --> 00:10:03,803 from the sea. 97 00:10:03,903 --> 00:10:10,843 The daily reunion is a happy occasion marked with an elaborate ritual. 98 00:10:10,943 --> 00:10:19,885 Soon, the hungry chicks will start begging for food, which the returning parent regurgitates 99 00:10:19,986 --> 00:10:28,060 for them. 100 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:32,064 Eventually the parents stop feeding the chicks, so the chicks can leave the nest with their 101 00:10:32,164 --> 00:10:47,346 parents, or with other adults, to venture on their first trip out to 102 00:10:47,446 --> 00:10:49,215 the sea. 103 00:10:49,315 --> 00:10:53,119 To gather more in-depth information about breeding penguins, experts visit certain nests 104 00:10:53,219 --> 00:10:58,991 once a week for a more hands-on approach. 105 00:10:59,091 --> 00:11:02,862 We select nests that are better protected or covered, where the adult wouldn t be 106 00:11:02,962 --> 00:11:09,935 able to escape or abandon the eggs or the chicks. 107 00:11:10,036 --> 00:11:15,374 The scientists check on the embryonic chick development inside the eggs, and they also 108 00:11:15,474 --> 00:11:18,944 work up parents and chicks. 109 00:11:19,045 --> 00:11:30,923 So, this is a Humboldt penguin chick, it s about four or five weeks old, and you can 110 00:11:31,023 --> 00:11:36,328 see it has a specific type of feathers that only chicks have, it s not waterproof, these 111 00:11:36,429 --> 00:11:37,863 kinds of feathers. 112 00:11:37,963 --> 00:11:42,902 We measure their flippers, their feet and their beak. 113 00:11:43,002 --> 00:11:47,940 Tape on the chicks flippers indicates which one hatched first. 114 00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:49,308 Scientists also weigh the animals 115 00:11:49,408 --> 00:11:54,280 This one is one kilo and 300 grams. 116 00:11:54,380 --> 00:12:00,052 and record similar measurements of the parents, as well as check their microchips 117 00:12:00,152 --> 00:12:05,224 for identification. 118 00:12:05,324 --> 00:12:09,962 It allows us to observe any changes in the incubation period or the chicks growth 119 00:12:10,062 --> 00:12:11,764 rate. 120 00:12:11,864 --> 00:12:15,267 By weighing and measuring the chick we obtain information about the parents feeding. 121 00:12:15,367 --> 00:12:21,240 Tagging the animals allows us to track the age of individuals, the couple s faithfulness 122 00:12:21,340 --> 00:12:22,575 as well as their breeding times. 123 00:12:22,675 --> 00:12:26,512 The handling takes no more than 7 or 8 minutes. 124 00:12:26,612 --> 00:12:32,451 We are the only breeding colony that has such a long-term data set. 125 00:12:32,551 --> 00:12:39,358 We have at least 18 years of information collected using the same methodologies. 126 00:12:39,458 --> 00:12:43,529 After the adults reproductive period ends in December, they undertake a very long trip 127 00:12:43,629 --> 00:12:49,401 to over-feed themselves, to prepare for the coming molt. 128 00:12:49,502 --> 00:12:55,574 The three week long molt allows the penguins to replace their worn feathers with new plumage. 129 00:12:55,674 --> 00:13:00,613 This will ensure proper insulation when they eventually return to the sea to replenish 130 00:13:00,713 --> 00:13:07,486 their fat reserves and start the breeding cycle again. 131 00:13:07,586 --> 00:13:11,791 During this molt, they stay on the beaches, which is the best time to count the penguins 132 00:13:11,891 --> 00:13:15,327 along the entire coastline. 133 00:13:15,427 --> 00:13:21,834 In the 1850s, naturalists visiting guano islands estimated that the population ranged in the 134 00:13:21,934 --> 00:13:24,303 hundreds of thousands. 135 00:13:24,403 --> 00:13:30,810 Because of drastic declines and ongoing fluctuations since then, the International Union for Conservation 136 00:13:30,910 --> 00:13:39,318 of Nature currently lists Humboldt penguins as vulnerable. 137 00:13:39,418 --> 00:13:44,790 Humboldt penguins aren t well studied overall, and experts say it s difficult to estimate 138 00:13:44,890 --> 00:13:51,130 the population across the penguin s entire breeding range, which runs from Foca Island 139 00:13:51,230 --> 00:13:56,902 in northern Peru to Metalqui Island in southern Chile. 140 00:13:57,002 --> 00:14:01,440 This is due in part because of the challenges that come with counting animals along the 141 00:14:01,540 --> 00:14:08,380 remote and rugged coastline, but also because of inconsistencies in counting methods between 142 00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:12,251 Peru and Chile. 143 00:14:12,351 --> 00:14:16,388 The Chileans have conducted the census while penguins were breeding, and we ve done it 144 00:14:16,488 --> 00:14:18,224 during the molting period. 145 00:14:18,324 --> 00:14:24,163 In the future, both Chile and Peru needs to have a unique protocol for counting so we 146 00:14:24,263 --> 00:14:32,938 can compare our numbers and have a total account of Humboldt penguins in the whole range. 147 00:14:33,038 --> 00:14:35,040 In 2015, there were 20,000 penguins in Peru. 148 00:14:35,140 --> 00:14:43,749 The number has been decreasing, and Peru s population is now down to 9,300 individuals 149 00:14:43,849 --> 00:14:51,090 in Peru, according to the latest counts from 2019. 150 00:14:51,190 --> 00:14:56,395 Penguin population numbers are prone to fluctuate because of changes in food availability caused 151 00:14:56,495 --> 00:15:00,199 by El Ni o events. 152 00:15:00,299 --> 00:15:06,572 During El Ni o years, the winds weaken, causing the upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich waters 153 00:15:06,672 --> 00:15:08,407 to cease. 154 00:15:08,507 --> 00:15:13,646 The consequent warming of the ocean surface further weakens the winds and strengthens 155 00:15:13,746 --> 00:15:17,816 El Ni o. 156 00:15:17,917 --> 00:15:24,924 Major prey species such as anchovy move to deeper waters and further south. 157 00:15:25,024 --> 00:15:32,298 So that means that the predators like penguins, sea lions and all the species that depend 158 00:15:32,398 --> 00:15:38,437 on the anchovies are in crisis because anchovy disappear. 159 00:15:38,537 --> 00:15:53,953 They cannot hunt them because they are either too deep or too far away. 160 00:15:54,053 --> 00:16:00,826 Penguins also face many man-made threats that can negatively impact their population numbers. 161 00:16:00,926 --> 00:16:07,333 Historically, guano harvesting had the biggest impact since penguins rely on guano for their 162 00:16:07,433 --> 00:16:10,736 nesting material. 163 00:16:10,836 --> 00:16:14,907 And the guano campaigns extracted all the guano with no regards for the breeding areas 164 00:16:15,007 --> 00:16:18,310 of this species. 165 00:16:18,410 --> 00:16:24,016 The use of guano as fertilizer traces all the way back to the Incas, but it didn t 166 00:16:24,116 --> 00:16:30,022 really start taking off commercially until the 1850s, when increased demand from Europe 167 00:16:30,122 --> 00:16:35,327 turned guano harvesting into a lucrative enterprise. 168 00:16:35,427 --> 00:16:42,735 Guano workers used to hunt or poach the penguins to be sold in the local market for food. 169 00:16:42,835 --> 00:16:46,638 And also a lot of disturbance on the penguin colony. 170 00:16:46,739 --> 00:16:57,016 So they harvested the guano where the penguins were nesting. 171 00:16:57,116 --> 00:17:03,389 Starting in 2001, the Punta San Juan Program began working closely with the Peruvian government 172 00:17:03,489 --> 00:17:08,460 to make the local guano harvest there more sustainable. 173 00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:12,865 For example, they no longer harvest in an area that extends 15 to 20 meters inland from 174 00:17:12,965 --> 00:17:16,769 the cliff, so the penguins have guano for their nests. 175 00:17:16,869 --> 00:17:23,108 And in 2007 and in 2012, improvements were made by planning the harvest around the guano 176 00:17:23,208 --> 00:17:26,445 birds and the penguins breeding seasons. 177 00:17:26,545 --> 00:17:32,351 To provide the penguins with safe passage along their daily feeding paths, visual barriers 178 00:17:32,451 --> 00:17:37,689 were placed strategically to conceal the workers from the skittish birds view. 179 00:17:37,790 --> 00:17:40,192 And that's been very successful. 180 00:17:40,292 --> 00:17:45,697 I think the conditions are getting better and programs at Punta San Juan can be used 181 00:17:45,798 --> 00:17:55,541 as models for others sites for guano harvesting. 182 00:17:55,641 --> 00:18:00,913 In addition to humans, a number of natural predators also pose a threat to the penguins 183 00:18:01,013 --> 00:18:03,248 on land. 184 00:18:03,348 --> 00:18:10,222 In the 1940s walls were built around peninsulas like Punta San Juan to increase guano production 185 00:18:10,322 --> 00:18:15,561 by creating artificial islands where the birds could breed without disruption from people 186 00:18:15,661 --> 00:18:19,364 or other terrestrial predators. 187 00:18:19,465 --> 00:18:26,872 Today these walls are starting to crumble, giving stealthy hunters a way in 188 00:18:26,972 --> 00:18:33,078 Lately, one of the concerns we ve had is that foxes are coming in much more frequently. 189 00:18:33,178 --> 00:18:37,316 This definitely has an impact, not just on the penguins, but on the other species like 190 00:18:37,416 --> 00:18:39,885 the guano birds. 191 00:18:39,985 --> 00:18:43,956 One fox here can eat 20 penguins, 40 penguins in a year. 192 00:18:44,056 --> 00:18:50,629 And this might sound a small number, but this is not sustainable in time. 193 00:18:50,729 --> 00:18:56,502 Captured foxes are relocated elsewhere, but they aren t the only predators that have 194 00:18:56,602 --> 00:18:58,871 found their way onto the reserve 195 00:18:58,971 --> 00:19:08,046 So this area are nests of the penguins and also the Inca turns and we find the rats here. 196 00:19:08,147 --> 00:19:14,520 Lyanne Ampuero works as a research assistant for the Punta San Juan Program. 197 00:19:14,620 --> 00:19:20,859 In 2014, while working on a study on Inca terns, she discovered signs of rats near the 198 00:19:20,959 --> 00:19:22,728 bird s burrows. 199 00:19:22,828 --> 00:19:29,801 I discover like forty nests with eggs and were all of them were predated. 200 00:19:29,902 --> 00:19:32,571 What I immediately do is set traps. 201 00:19:32,671 --> 00:19:36,241 The next morning I trap a couple of rats. 202 00:19:36,341 --> 00:19:40,913 That was really like shocking for everybody. 203 00:19:41,013 --> 00:19:49,121 If penguins leave their nest, rats will also eat their eggs or attack chicks. 204 00:19:49,221 --> 00:19:55,160 To eradicate the problem, Lyanne is experimenting with a variety of traps and plans to use a 205 00:19:55,260 --> 00:20:01,099 type of poison that only impacts the rats, but not the seabirds which may feed on their 206 00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:05,370 carcasses. 207 00:20:05,470 --> 00:20:09,308 And predators aren t the penguins only current threats. 208 00:20:09,408 --> 00:20:16,715 Across their range, habitat loss, pollution and overfishing all pose issues. 209 00:20:16,815 --> 00:20:21,019 The anchovy fishery is very important for the Peruvian economy. 210 00:20:21,119 --> 00:20:28,126 Every year between four or five or six millions of tons are fished by the commercial fishery. 211 00:20:28,227 --> 00:20:33,165 And the effect on penguins and other seabirds is direct. 212 00:20:33,265 --> 00:20:37,469 So less food, less numbers of animals. 213 00:20:37,569 --> 00:20:43,275 While the reserves offer protection on land, the animals are largely unprotected while 214 00:20:43,375 --> 00:20:44,843 at sea. 215 00:20:44,943 --> 00:20:49,481 Here in Punta San Juan, it's only protected 200 meters from the coast. 216 00:20:49,581 --> 00:20:53,285 And that's it. 217 00:20:53,385 --> 00:20:59,224 To better understand the penguins life at sea, and suggest future protections, scientists 218 00:20:59,324 --> 00:21:03,996 have started studying their movements and foraging behavior. 219 00:21:04,096 --> 00:21:11,637 Dr. Carlos Zavalaga, has studied penguins off and on for the last 30 years. 220 00:21:11,737 --> 00:21:19,211 In the fall of 2019, he and his students conducted seabird research on Gua ape Norte, a remote 221 00:21:19,311 --> 00:21:23,148 guano island in the north of Peru. 222 00:21:23,248 --> 00:21:32,724 Now we have about quarter million of Peruvian boobies here on Gua ape Norte and about 150,000 223 00:21:32,824 --> 00:21:33,792 guanay cormorants. 224 00:21:33,892 --> 00:21:38,297 So they are breeding in large numbers. 225 00:21:38,397 --> 00:21:47,005 There are probably around a thousand Humboldt penguins on the Island. 226 00:21:47,105 --> 00:21:51,977 Carlos is also conducting a study that looks at the interaction of penguins with fisheries 227 00:21:52,077 --> 00:21:57,349 that use nets close to the islands where penguins nest and rest. 228 00:21:57,449 --> 00:22:05,023 One of the major reasons why Humboldt penguins are in low numbers, at least in comparison 229 00:22:05,123 --> 00:22:11,763 to historical records, is because they die as a consequence of entanglement in fishing 230 00:22:11,863 --> 00:22:13,632 nets. 231 00:22:13,732 --> 00:22:20,138 Between 92, 93 and 94 about a thousand of penguins died entangled in fishing nets around 232 00:22:20,238 --> 00:22:22,507 the Punta San Juan area. 233 00:22:22,607 --> 00:22:24,609 And we don't know how often it happens. 234 00:22:24,710 --> 00:22:30,048 It's very difficult to monitor and so what we want to know is where the penguins are 235 00:22:30,148 --> 00:22:31,950 going when they are feeding. 236 00:22:32,050 --> 00:22:39,124 And at the same time where are these fishing boats fishing, based on interviews to fishermen 237 00:22:39,224 --> 00:22:44,296 and other sorts of data. 238 00:22:44,396 --> 00:22:49,801 To identify areas where the penguins might overlap with the fishing vessels, Carlos attached 239 00:22:49,901 --> 00:22:56,074 specialized data loggers on nesting penguins at Pachacamac Island, near Peru s capital 240 00:22:56,174 --> 00:22:58,043 Lima. 241 00:22:58,143 --> 00:23:03,515 All of them need to have small chicks we need to be sure that the penguin will come back 242 00:23:03,615 --> 00:23:07,819 to the nest because we need to recover the device. 243 00:23:07,919 --> 00:23:13,558 And then we take the penguin out from the nest and attach the logger on the lower back 244 00:23:13,658 --> 00:23:16,928 using a waterproof tape. 245 00:23:17,028 --> 00:23:21,099 And then we release again the penguin in the nest. 246 00:23:21,199 --> 00:23:26,972 These loggers are capable of recording depth and location every 10 seconds, giving experts 247 00:23:27,072 --> 00:23:31,109 an idea of where the animals travel to feed. 248 00:23:31,209 --> 00:23:40,552 We return two or three days later and again recapture the penguin and retrieve the logger. 249 00:23:40,652 --> 00:23:46,191 And then we return the penguin to the nest, then we are ready to download information 250 00:23:46,291 --> 00:23:48,593 to the computer. 251 00:23:48,693 --> 00:23:54,766 Past tagging of penguins on Pachacamac Island showed the animals traveling in all directions. 252 00:23:54,866 --> 00:24:01,239 But the most important finding is that the two mile protected area around Isla Pachacamac 253 00:24:01,339 --> 00:24:03,275 is not enough to protect them. 254 00:24:03,375 --> 00:24:08,079 They go 20, 30 miles away looking for food. 255 00:24:08,180 --> 00:24:14,419 And this area, just watching the preliminary data, is also an important area for fishing. 256 00:24:14,519 --> 00:24:19,791 We need more data of course, but with this preliminary results, we can see that the area 257 00:24:19,891 --> 00:24:25,330 of overlapping between penguins and the fisheries is very high. 258 00:24:25,430 --> 00:24:30,836 Carlos says once he has collected all the necessary data he plans to present his findings 259 00:24:30,936 --> 00:24:36,608 to the government, so it can consider extending protected areas where fishing isn t allowed 260 00:24:36,708 --> 00:25:00,932 or require fishing gear that minimizes the bycatch of penguins. 261 00:25:01,032 --> 00:25:06,304 Penguins have long captured the hearts and minds of people around the world. 262 00:25:06,404 --> 00:25:13,411 And like us, they depend on a healthy land and sea to survive. 263 00:25:13,512 --> 00:25:19,384 If they disappear, that means that we are changing things in such a way that it could 264 00:25:19,484 --> 00:25:21,319 affect the way we live. 265 00:25:21,419 --> 00:25:48,280 This is like a mirror for us, if they are well there are indicators that the whole system 266 00:25:48,380 --> 00:26:08,600 is well. 267 00:26:08,700 --> 00:26:14,272 Major funding for this program was provided by the Batchelor Foundation, encouraging people 268 00:26:14,372 --> 00:26:23,281 to preserve and protect America s underwater resources and by the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, 269 00:26:23,381 --> 00:26:27,419 strengthening America s future through education. 270 00:26:27,519 --> 00:26:33,992 Additional funding was provided by The William J. and Tina Rosenberg Foundation and by the 271 00:26:34,092 --> 00:26:38,092 Do Unto Others Trust.