Animal
Galápagos penguin
The Galápagos penguin is a small black and white penguin. It lives on hot, rocky islands near the middle of the Earth. It swims in cool water to catch little fish.
The Galápagos penguin is a small penguin that lives only on the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador, on the equator. It is the most northerly penguin in the world. It nests in caves and holes in volcanic rock and catches small fish in cool ocean water that rises up around the western islands. It is endangered: there are only about 1,200 grown-up Galápagos penguins.
Spheniscus mendiculus is endemic to the Galápagos archipelago, Ecuador, and is the most northerly penguin species. It breeds on Isabela, Fernandina, Floreana and Santiago and several offshore islets, with about 95% of the population on Isabela and Fernandina, where cool, nutrient-rich upwelling supports its prey. BirdLife International assessed it as Endangered for the IUCN Red List (assessed 2020, published 2020), with about 1,200 mature individuals and a decreasing trend driven mainly by El Niño events.
Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the Galápagos penguin
The Galápagos penguin is a small penguin.
Its back is black and its front is white. A thin white line curves around its head.
The Galápagos penguin is one of the smallest penguins. It stands about 53 centimeters tall on average and weighs 1.7 to 2.6 kilograms. Males are a little bigger than females.
It is mostly black with a white front. A thin white stripe starts above each eye, curves back and comes down to the neck. Below the head is a black collar, and another white stripe runs along each side of the body.
Animal Diversity Web (Wahlstrom 2007) describes Spheniscus mendiculus as the smallest of the banded penguins (genus Spheniscus), averaging 53 centimeters tall and 1.7 to 2.6 kilograms, with males slightly larger than females; a 2025 National Geographic article, quoted by the University of Washington, says about a foot and a half tall.
Like other banded penguins it has a black head with a white mark that starts above each eye and curves back and down to the neck, but its head stripe is the narrowest in the genus, which separates it from the similar Magellanic penguin. A small black collar joins the back, followed by a white stripe and then a black stripe along each side of the body.
Quick facts
- Group
- Bird
- Height
- 0.53 m
- Weight
- 1.7 to 2.6 kg
- Lifespan in the wild
- 15 to 20 years
Penguins on the equator
Galápagos penguins live on the Galápagos Islands.
The islands are hot, but the sea around some of them is cool.
Galápagos penguins live only on the Galápagos Islands, which belong to Ecuador and lie roughly 600 miles (about 970 kilometers) off the mainland. The islands sit on the equator, so this is the most northerly penguin in the world.
About 95 out of every 100 Galápagos penguins live on Isabela and Fernandina, the big western islands. There, cool water full of nutrients rises up from deep in the ocean, and that brings plenty of small fish. The penguins rest on sandy and rocky shores and nest just above the sea.
IUCN describes the species as endemic to the Galápagos archipelago, breeding on Isabela, Fernandina, Floreana and Santiago and several offshore islets, with about 95% of the population on Isabela and Fernandina; along about 400 kilometers of coast on those two westernmost islands are 96% of all nests (Steinfurth 2007). Vagrants have been recorded from Panama.
Its distribution is closely tied to cool, nutrient-rich upwelling in the west of the archipelago, which allows high densities of prey. It nests just above sea level (IUCN gives an upper limit of 40 meters, Animal Diversity Web 10 meters) and forages close to shore. While raising chicks, adults move up to 23.5 kilometers from the nest but concentrate their foraging within 1 kilometer of the shore; non-breeding birds may travel up to 64 kilometers from their colony (IUCN).
Continent
Did you know?
A Galápagos penguin sees fish best when they are above it.
Galápagos penguins sneak up on fish from below, because they see prey best when it is above them.
Eye position relative to the bill means prey is seen best from below, and prey is seized from beneath (Animal Diversity Web).
Where can you find this animal?
- Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
- Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
Only the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador, mostly the coasts of Isabela and Fernandina, plus Floreana, Santiago and offshore islets; nests just above sea level. Vagrants recorded from Panama are not mapped.
Places: Ecuador.
Source: iucn-red-list · checked October 2026
Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Counts of GBIF records of wild observations (human and machine) and preserved specimens. Records include introduced populations, vagrants, escaped or released animals and misidentifications, so a country with records is not necessarily part of the native range.
Wild sightings have been recorded in Ecuador, United States, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Southern Ocean and 2 more places.
Source: gbif · checked October 2026
Range maps show where scientists say an animal lives, often country by country. An animal may live in only part of a country shown, and sightings records can include animals that wandered far from home.
Small fish from below
Galápagos penguins eat small fish.
They swim under the fish and grab them from below.
Galápagos penguins eat small fish, such as anchovies, sardines and mullets, and other small sea animals such as crustaceans.
They often hunt in groups. A penguin swims up under its prey and grabs it from below. Its eyes are placed so that it sees prey best when the prey is above it. It dives to about 30 meters deep.
Animal Diversity Web (2007) lists small fish such as anchovies (Engraulidae), sardines and pilchards (Clupeidae) and mullets (Mugilidae), plus crustaceans and other small marine invertebrates. The penguins usually hunt in groups and seize prey from below; the position of the eyes relative to the bill means they see prey best from beneath it. Dives reach about 30 meters.
IUCN notes that the relationship between the penguins and their prey varies with the frequency and strength of upwelling, and that in recent decades the population has been driven mainly by the effect of El Niño events on the availability of schooling fish.
Did you know?
The Galápagos penguin lives near the middle of the Earth, where it is hot!
Galápagos penguins are the only penguins that live at the equator.
The Galápagos penguin is the most northerly penguin species (IUCN) and the only one living at the equator (a 2025 National Geographic article quoted by the University of Washington).
Built for swimming
A Galápagos penguin cannot fly.
It uses its short wings, called flippers, to swim.
Galápagos penguins cannot fly, but they are good swimmers. They push through the water with their short wings, called flippers. On land they waddle on short legs, holding their flippers out to the sides.
Their colors help them hide at sea. From above, the black back blends with the dark deep water. From below, the white front blends with the bright water near the surface. This kind of coloring is called countershading.
The species is flightless and uses its short wings to swim; on land it is awkward, waddling on short legs with outstretched wings (Animal Diversity Web, 2007). A 2025 National Geographic article on Dee Boersma's fieldwork, quoted by the University of Washington, describes the flippers as thick at the top and tapering to a thin trailing edge.
The black-and-white pattern is countershading: a predator looking down sees a dark back against dark, deeper water, while one looking up sees a white underside against the brighter surface. At sea the penguins are taken by sharks and other large marine animals.
Nests in the lava
Galápagos penguins nest in caves and holes in the rock.
The mother lays two eggs. Both parents keep the eggs warm.
Galápagos penguins can nest at any time of year, whenever the cool water brings plenty of food. They lay their eggs in caves and holes in the volcanic rock, which keeps the eggs safer. A clutch is two eggs.
Both parents take turns keeping the eggs warm for 38 to 42 days, while the other goes to sea to feed. After hatching, one parent guards the chick while the other fishes. The chick leaves the nest at about 60 days old. When food is plentiful, a pair can raise two chicks in about three months.
Breeding occurs throughout the year, coinciding with increased upwelling (IUCN); Animal Diversity Web (2007) adds that pairs may breed two or three times a year. Nests are in caves or cavities in the volcanic rock, which reduces predation on eggs. The clutch is two eggs, and incubation, shared by both parents, lasts 38 to 42 days.
One parent broods and guards the chick for about 30 to 40 days while the other forages and returns to regurgitate food; then the chick can be left alone while both forage. Chicks fledge at about 60 days and are independent within 3 to 6 months, and adults may keep feeding fledglings if food is available (IUCN). Females reach breeding age at 3 to 4 years and males at 4 to 6 years. Galápagos Conservancy reports that when food is abundant a pair can raise two chicks within three months.
Pairs and pebble thieves
Galápagos penguins live in groups called colonies.
A penguin pair often stays together year after year.
Galápagos penguins live in colonies and guard the area around their nest. Most pairs stay with the same mate, so only a few penguins need to find a new partner each year.
Pairs show they belong together by preening each other's feathers, patting each other with their flippers and bill dueling, a kind of fencing with their beaks. They build their nests from whatever they can find, and they often take pebbles and sticks from a neighbor's nest when the neighbors are away.
Animal Diversity Web (2007) describes Galápagos penguins as social, colonial and territorial, defending their nesting area against neighbors. Pairs generally keep the same mate, and courtship and pair-bond displays include mutual preening, flipper patting and bill dueling. The pair builds a nest and keeps renovating it until the eggs are laid, often stealing pebbles, sticks and other material from a neighboring nest when its owners are absent.
Calls help mates and chicks recognize each other, and calls with wing-flapping help drive off egg predators, most effectively when a group confronts the predator. On land, chicks can be taken by rice rats, crabs and snakes, and adults by Galápagos hawks, owls and introduced cats and dogs.
Did you know?
People built nests for these penguins out of lava rock.
In 2010, scientists built 120 nests out of lava rock, and the penguins have nested in them.
Nearly a quarter of observed breeding has been in nests constructed in 2010, and up to 43% in some years on Mariela Island (Galápagos Conservancy).
Helping the rarest penguin
There are not many Galápagos penguins left.
People built new nests for them out of lava rock, and the penguins use them.
The Galápagos penguin is endangered. Experts estimated about 1,200 grown-up penguins in 2020, and the number is going down. In El Niño years, the cool water rising from the deep weakens or stops, the small fish become hard to find and penguin numbers fall.
Cats, rats and dogs brought to the islands by people, fishing nets, oil spills and mosquitoes that can carry bird diseases are also dangers. All Galápagos penguins live inside the Galápagos National Park and Marine Reserve. In 2010, scientists built 120 nests out of lava rock for them, and the penguins have used them.
BirdLife International assessed Spheniscus mendiculus as Endangered (criteria A2abce; B2ab(iii,v); C2a(ii)) for the IUCN Red List (assessed 21 August 2020, published 2020), with about 1,200 mature individuals and a decreasing trend. Population size is hard to pin down: a 2007 head count of 1,009 was half the counts of 1970 and 1971, and El Niño events in 1982-83 and 1997-98 cut head counts by 77% and 65%. Climate change may make such events more frequent.
Other threats named by IUCN are drowning in inshore fishing nets, possible oil spills, introduced rats, cats and dogs, the Toxoplasma parasite carried by cats, and mosquitoes that can carry avian malaria and West Nile virus. The whole population lies within the Galápagos National Park and Marine Reserve. Since Boersma's team built 120 lava nest sites in 2010, nearly a quarter of observed breeding has been in constructed nests, up to 43% in some years on Mariela Island, where a marine protected area was created (Galápagos Conservancy).
IUCN Red List
How is the galápagos penguin doing in the wild?
- Least Concern
- Near Threatened
- Vulnerable
- Endangered (this animal)
- Critically Endangered
- Extinct in the Wild
- Extinct
Endangered
At very high risk of disappearing from the wild.
Amazing facts
-
The Galápagos penguin lives near the middle of the Earth, where it is hot!
Galápagos penguins are the only penguins that live at the equator.
The Galápagos penguin is the most northerly penguin species (IUCN) and the only one living at the equator (a 2025 National Geographic article quoted by the University of Washington).
-
Some penguins take pebbles from their neighbors' nests!
Galápagos penguins often take pebbles and sticks from a neighbor's nest when the neighbors are away.
Nest material is often stolen from neighboring nests while their owners are absent (Animal Diversity Web, 2007).
-
People built nests for these penguins out of lava rock.
In 2010, scientists built 120 nests out of lava rock, and the penguins have nested in them.
Nearly a quarter of observed breeding has been in nests constructed in 2010, and up to 43% in some years on Mariela Island (Galápagos Conservancy).
-
A Galápagos penguin sees fish best when they are above it.
Galápagos penguins sneak up on fish from below, because they see prey best when it is above them.
Eye position relative to the bill means prey is seen best from below, and prey is seized from beneath (Animal Diversity Web).
Words to know
- endemic
- living naturally in only one place in the world
- upwelling
- cold water full of nutrients rising from deep in the ocean to the surface
- El Niño
- a climate pattern in the Pacific Ocean when warm water moves east and cold upwelling weakens or stops
- countershading
- dark color on top and light color underneath, which makes an animal harder to see
- flipper
- a flat wing or limb used for swimming
- colony
- a group of animals of one kind that live and nest together
- clutch
- the set of eggs laid at one time
Discovery challenge
-
Where do Galápagos penguins live?
Where do Galápagos penguins live in the wild?
To which archipelago is Spheniscus mendiculus endemic?
- The Galápagos Islands
- Antarctica
- Alaska
Show the answer
The Galápagos Islands
On the Galápagos Islands, near the middle of the Earth.
Only on the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador, on the equator.
The Galápagos archipelago, Ecuador; about 95% of birds are on Isabela and Fernandina.
-
Where do Galápagos penguins lay their eggs?
Where do Galápagos penguins usually nest?
What nest sites do Galápagos penguins use?
- In caves and holes in the rock
- High up in trees
- On floating ice
Show the answer
In caves and holes in the rock
In caves and holes in the rock.
In caves and holes in the volcanic rock, which keeps the eggs safer.
Caves and cavities in the lava, plus lava nests built for them since 2010.
-
How many eggs does a Galápagos penguin lay at one time?
How many eggs are in a Galápagos penguin's clutch?
What is the clutch size of the Galápagos penguin?
- Two
- Ten
- Twenty
Show the answer
Two
Two eggs.
Two eggs, which both parents keep warm for 38 to 42 days.
Two eggs; incubation is shared and lasts 38 to 42 days (Animal Diversity Web).
-
What makes food hard to find for Galápagos penguins?
What makes the small fish that Galápagos penguins eat hard to find?
Which ocean event has caused the largest falls in Galápagos penguin numbers?
- Warm El Niño water
- Snowstorms
- Thick sea ice
Show the answer
Warm El Niño water
In El Niño years, the sea gets warm and fish are hard to find.
During El Niño, warm water spreads east across the Pacific, the rising of cool, food-rich water weakens or stops, and the small fish become scarce.
El Niño events: head counts fell by 77% in 1982-83 and 65% in 1997-98 (IUCN).
Places where you might see it
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Watch
Natural wonder
Galápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands are a group of volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean, about 1,000 kilometers off the coast of Ecuador. Many of their animals live nowhere else on Earth, and they helped inspire Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection.
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Watch
Country
Ecuador
Ecuador is a country in northwestern South America, named after the equator, which crosses it. In a small space it holds Pacific beaches, high snowy volcanoes of the Andes, part of the Amazon rainforest and the Galápagos Islands, whose wildlife helped Charles Darwin develop his ideas.
Explore next
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African penguin
The African penguin is a penguin of warm, sunny coasts. It lives only in South Africa and Namibia, nests in burrows and under bushes, and hunts sardines and anchovies in the cold sea. Its numbers have fallen so far that it is now Critically Endangered, and people are working hard to protect it.
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Humboldt penguin
The Humboldt penguin is a medium-sized penguin of the Pacific coast of Peru and Chile, where the cold Humboldt Current brings plenty of fish. It has a white stripe curving around its head and a black band across its chest. It often digs its nest burrow in thick layers of dried seabird droppings called guano. It is listed as Vulnerable.
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The little penguin is the smallest penguin in the world, only about 33 centimeters long and about 1 kilogram. It lives along the coasts of southern Australia and New Zealand, where it is also called the fairy penguin, the blue penguin or kororā. It fishes at sea by day and comes ashore after dark to its burrow.
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Animal
Marine iguana
The marine iguana is the only lizard in the world that finds its food in the sea. It lives only on the rocky shores of the Galápagos Islands, where it grazes on seaweed, warms up on black lava rocks and sneezes out extra salt.
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Animal
Blue-footed booby
The blue-footed booby is a seabird of the tropical eastern Pacific, from Mexico to Peru and the Galápagos Islands. Its bright blue feet star in its courtship dance: birds with bluer feet are more likely to find a mate. It catches fish by diving into the sea from high in the air.
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Watch
Natural wonder
Galápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands are a group of volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean, about 1,000 kilometers off the coast of Ecuador. Many of their animals live nowhere else on Earth, and they helped inspire Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection.
-
Watch
Country
Ecuador
Ecuador is a country in northwestern South America, named after the equator, which crosses it. In a small space it holds Pacific beaches, high snowy volcanoes of the Andes, part of the Amazon rainforest and the Galápagos Islands, whose wildlife helped Charles Darwin develop his ideas.
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Animal
Adélie penguin
The Adélie penguin is a medium-sized penguin, about 70 centimeters tall, with a black back, a white front and a bright white ring around each eye. It breeds in summer on rocky, ice-free ground all around Antarctica, building nests of pebbles, and spends the winter far out at sea among the pack ice.
For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Locate the Galápagos Islands on the equator and explain how a penguin can live there.
- Describe how countershading helps a swimming animal stay hidden.
- Explain how El Niño changes the food supply of ocean animals.
- Describe how people are helping an endangered bird with protected areas and built nests.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why might cool water rising from the deep ocean bring more fish?
- Why do you think nests in caves and holes keep eggs safer?
- How could building nests help a bird whose numbers go up and down with its food?
Try at home or in class
- Cut out a paper fish shape, color the top black and the bottom white, then hold it over a dark blue sheet and under a light sheet to see when it is hardest to spot.
- Find the equator and the Galápagos Islands on a globe or map, then find where other penguins live, and compare.
Key vocabulary: endemic, upwelling, El Niño, countershading, flipper, colony, clutch
Where these facts come from
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF Occurrence Search , Global Biodiversity Information Facility (CC0 1.0 (backbone); occurrence counts are facts derived from records under CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC)
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN terms of use (no redistribution of Red List data or range maps))
- Spheniscus mendiculus (BirdLife International, assessed 21 August 2020, published 2020) , IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Spheniscus mendiculus: range, population, habitat, threats and conservation text , IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Spheniscus mendiculus: IUCN Red List global assessment record (BirdLife International 2020), IUCN checklist on GBIF , GBIF
- Spheniscus mendiculus (Galapagos penguin), J. Wahlstrom 2007 , Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology
- What are El Niño and La Niña? , NOAA National Ocean Service
- Safeguarding Galápagos Penguins from Climate Change , Galápagos Conservancy
- Dee Boersma featured in National Geographic article on Galapagos penguin research (2025) , Department of Biology, University of Washington
- File:Galápagos penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus) male.jpg (Isabela Island off Moreno Point, 26 March 2012, Charles J. Sharp) , Wikimedia Commons
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file: Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA only (credited on each page))
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.