Landau, January 22, 2026. On Penguin Awareness Day on January 20, conservationists and scientists in South America once again provided information about penguins. As on World Penguin Day in April, they drew the public's attention to this fascinating species, a miracle of evolution, and the threat of extinction facing some penguin species.

Landau, January 25, 2026. The marine animal rescue station in Coquimbo, northern Chile, is jointly supported and managed by the Universidad Católica del Norte (UCN) (1), Sernapesca (2), Sphenisco, and the NGO Conservación Humboldt (3). It is funded by the zoos in Dresden, Frankfurt, and Halle. At the beginning of January, Conservación Humboldt reported in detail on the development of the rescue station in accordance with the contract:

Landau, January 30, 2026. In December 2025, Chilean media reported on a new bribery scandal in connection with the “Dominga” mining and port project of the Andes Iron company. Sphenisco reported on this on January 9, 2026, under the headline “New bribery scandal – were court rulings bought in favor of ‘Dominga’?” A new decision by the Court of Appeals in Antofagasta is currently expected in the “Dominga” case. This prompted Nancy Duman, president of Fundación Sphenisco Chile, to write a letter to the editor on the subject. The letter was published in El Mercurio, Antofagasta and Calama edition:

Landau, January 9, 2026. The Humboldt penguin population has declined sharply in recent years. The causes are bird flu H5N1 and El Niño, but according to Chilean authorities, (small-scale) fishing and destructive construction projects are also to blame. The controversial “Dominga” mining and port project by the Andes Iron company has the potential to cause significant damage to or destroy the most important breeding areas in northern Chile. The Andes Iron company and its “Dominga” project are currently entangled in another bribery scandal.

Landau, December 5, 2025.

In recent years, the Humboldt penguin population has been reduced by environmental pressures such as climate change, overfishing, habitat destruction, and natural events to an extent that has not yet been fully clarified. In 2023, a large number of seabirds breeding in colonies in South America died from the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu. The extent to which Humboldt penguins were reduced by bird flu is unclear, as the dead birds were not examined. The El Niño of 2023/2024 was one of the strongest since records began. Due to a lack of food, Humboldt penguins were unable to breed in large parts of their range in 2023 and 2024.

Coquimbo, Landau, November 21, 2025. Since August, injured animals have been cared for at the marine animal rescue center in Coquimbo, northern Chile. The center is jointly run by the NGO Conservación Humboldt, the Universidad Católica del Norte-UCN (1), Sernapesca (2), and Sphenisco. The project is funded by Frankfurt Zoo, Halle Mountain Zoo, and Dresden Zoo. (See article “Renovation ... completed” from August 8).

La Higuera, October 28, 2025. The second literary competition, “El Archipiélago de Humboldt en 110 Palabras” (1), was officially launched at the Yerba Buena InfoPoint in the southern part of the Humboldt Archipelago (2). The competition is an initiative of the Fundación Sphenisco Chile. The project is supported by the municipality of La Higuera, international organizations such as Sphenisco e.V., the sponsors Rostock Zoo and Ouwehand Zoo Foundation (3), as well as national (4) and local organizations (5).

La Serena, October 18, 2025. The Humboldt penguin played an important role in the Chilean pavilion at Expo 2025. Chile was represented at the Expo by its mascot, “Chiri-Chan.” The character was a good representation of the penguin species typical of the Humboldt Current. (2)