On January 20th, the World Penguin Day was celebrated, and in **Chile**, they have several of these magnificent specimens inhabiting their territory. The most prominent ones are the [Magellanic penguin](https://noticiasambientales.com/animales/el-papel-fundamental-de-los-pinguinos-de-magallanes-en-el-equilibrio-ecologico-de-chubut/) and the Humboldt penguin.
The latter is found from the coasts of Arica to the Los Ríos region, and its largest colony is located in the **Humboldt Penguin National Reserve**, which houses 80% of its population. However, the current situation is alarming.
## Humboldt Penguin: a species in danger
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Humboldt penguin is categorized as **vulnerable**, with a population of 23,800 mature individuals, of which 80% reside in the Humboldt Penguin National Reserve.
For this reason, **Greenpeace** makes an urgent call to raise awareness about [the importance of protecting them from threats](https://noticiasambientales.com/ciencia/siembra-de-algas-el-proyecto-para-proteger-la-costa-patagonica/) that endanger their conservation. “One of them is the Dominga mining port project, which plans to settle near the **Humboldt archipelago**, where the Reserve is located,” warns Dominique Charlin.
## The importance of protecting the penguins’ habitat
This archipelago, emphasizes the specialist, is crucial for the **survival and nesting of penguins**, as it groups the marine species that serve as their food.
According to scientific data, during the **chick rearing period**, adults search for food within a radius of 20-35 km around the colony, while incubating birds can venture up to 72 km away. “The navigation routes of the **Dominga mining port project** overlap with this critical habitat,” affirms the Greenpeace spokesperson.
Regarding the importance of protecting this species, Charlin emphasizes that “penguins play a vital role in the environment, as their excrement contains **nitrogen and carbon**, which act as fertilizers, allowing these nutrients to be fixed in the soil and circulate between the coast and the ocean. This facilitates algal blooms that **serve as food for other species**, perpetuating the life cycle. That’s why scientists call them bioengineers.”
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