The Humboldt penguin is the only penguin species to breed in Peru, inhabiting the country’s coastal deserts. But since 2022, the species’ has been under pressure from the spread of avian influenza, followed by El Niño.Between 2022 and 2025, the population of Humboldt penguins has dropped by two-thirds across 34 islands and peninsulas on the Peruvian coast.Experts monitoring the species say penguins are abandoning their nests as they already feel the impacts of the upcoming El Niño episode, which changes temperatures in coastal waters and diminishes the amount of prey fish available.Scientists are asking both the national government and the IUCN to revise the species’ status to reflect the increasing threats and boost conservation efforts.
SAN JUAN DE MARCONA, Peru — First, there was the H5N1 avian influenza of 2022, then El Niño arrived in 2023, disrupting coastal waters and fish availability. For Peru’s Humboldt penguins, the only species of penguins that breeds in the country, the burden was too heavy: Its population dropped by two-thirds between 2022 and 2025. Still recovering, the species is now facing a super El Niño that could further undermine its future.
In early June, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, warned: “The science is clear: El Niño is arriving on our doorstep in the coming months with 90% certainty. The world must treat it as the urgent climate warning it is. El Niño conditions will pour fuel on the fire of a warming world. Impacts will hit even harder, travel even farther, and cross borders with devastating speed.”
