Magellanic penguin
Amazing fact
When too hot, Magellanic penguins raise their flippers to expose more of their bodies to the breeze.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
When too hot, Magellanic penguins raise their flippers to expose more of their bodies to the breeze.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Magellanic penguin
- Scientific name
- Spheniscus magellanicus
- Japanese name
- マゼランペンギン
- Group
- Birds
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Sphenisciformes
- Family
- Spheniscidae
- Genus
- Spheniscus
A penguin that lives and raises its young along the southern coasts of South America.
A white band runs from each eye around the sides of its head and meets above the neck, and it has black bands below its neck.
Males call to attract females with a sound like a donkey's bray.
How the Magellanic penguin lives
During the breeding season, they may nest in burrows in cliffs. They dive in the open sea to catch fish. The parents call to each other when switching egg-incubation duties. After the breeding season, adults and young birds head north and live at sea.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Weight
- 2.5–7.5 kg
- Active
- By day (diurnal)
- Diet
- Pelagic fish
- Range
- Southern coast of South America
Where the Magellanic penguin has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- マゼランペンギン
- 简体中文
- 麦哲伦企鹅
- 繁體中文
- 麥哲倫企鵝
- 한국어
- 마젤란펭귄
- Español
- Pingüino de Magallanes
- Français
- Manchot de Magellan
- Deutsch
- Magellanpinguin
- Português (Brasil)
- Pinguim-de-magalhães
- Italiano
- Pinguino di Magellano
- العربية
- بطريق ماجلاني
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Penguin magellan
- Tiếng Việt
- Chim cánh cụt Magellan
- Русский
- Магелланов пингвин
- Türkçe
- Macellan pengueni
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Spheniscus magellanicusChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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