Galápagos Penguin

'''Status:''' Endangered. One of the world's rarest penguins with an estimated population of less than 2,000 breeding pairs. In recent decades, this species has been influenced primarily by the effects of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on the availability of shoaling fish. This had been most evident in 1982-83 and 1997-98, when the penguin population underwent dramatic declines of 77 % and 65 %, respectively. After this, the population entered a slow recovery phase and annual penguin censuses indicate a relatively stable, and even slightly increasing, population trend over the last nine years, however the current population size is still 48 % below the pre-El Niño population levels. Recovery from the 1982-1983 ENSO may have been slowed by the lower frequency of La Niña cold water events and above average surface water temperatures. Also, ENSO may have a disproportionate impact on females, which could result in a biased sex ratio, making population recovery slower.