All About Humbolt Penguins
The Humbolt Penguin is also known as the Peruvian penguin. These penguins live and breed on the rugged coast and offshore islands of Chile and Peru. Their nest are burrows in the ground. The female almost always lays two eggs. If food is plentiful both chicks will survive. These Humbolt Penguins stand about 24 inches high and weigh about 6 1/2 to 11 pounds. Humbolt Penguins have a thick, black upside down horseshoe shape on their belly. They look almost like the African penguin, but are shorter with long flippers. Humbolts are endangered because their drippings known as "guano" have been used as fertilizer. When the "guano" is harvested it causes serious damage to their habitat. There are only about 10,000 birds today. There is not a lot of information known about these penguins today, because they have not been studied extensively.