Landau, 18 September 2025.
The newspaper El Mostrador (1) published a statement by scientists from Chile and around the world on August 4, 2025, urging the authorities to definitively reject the Dominga mining and port project.

Landau, 12 September 2025. The artist Jacklyn Gratzfeld (1) invites you to the exhibition "eARTh – 20 Years of Art and Nature Conservation Journeys through Four Continents" in the district hall of the Südliche Weinstraße. Around 30 works from the last two decades will be on display, including "Skylight oil paintings, Dance With Nature acrylic paintings, bird and animal portraits in chalk and animal etchings". The works provide insight into the artist's art and nature conservation journeys through Asia, the USA, Africa and the Palatinate region in Germany.

Landau, 3rd of September 2025. At the beginning of August, the renovation of the marine animal rescue center in Coquimbo was completed. The care of injured marine animals is jointly provided by the NGO Conservación Humboldt, the Universidad Católica del Norte-UCN (1), Sernapesca (2), and Sphenisco. The project is supported by Frankfurt Zoo, Halle Mountain Zoo, and Dresden Zoo. (See article “Renovation ... completed” from 8th of August).

La Serena, 11th of August 2025. At the beginning of August, the Pedro Pablo Muñoz School in the municipality of La Higuera hosted a ceremony to mark the launch of the textbook Dando valor al Archipiélago de Humboldt (1). The publication was created by teachers for teachers with the aim of teaching pupils about the natural and cultural wealth of this globally unique region.

The event was attended by pupils, parents, teachers from the school and local and regional representatives from public authorities. The pupils performed pieces of music, adding a special touch to the day.

Landau, 10 August 2025. Since 2021, a team of researchers led by Dr. Alejandro Simeone (1) has been conducting investigations on the population, breeding success and foraging of the Humboldt penguin in Chile on behalf of Sphenisco. The project is funded by the Karlsruhe Zoo Conservation Foundation, Dresden Zoo and the Hagenbeck Zoo Association. On these pages, the multi-year project was repeatedly reported. (2)

Landau, August 9, 2025. Since 2009, environmentalists and scientists have been demanding an effective protection of the Humboldt Archipelago in northern Chile. For just as long, the communities of La Higuera and Freirina have been proposing a protected area based on scientific and expert opinions. The proposal was also supported by the regional governments of Coquimbo and Atacama. Three presidents—Bachelet, Piñera, and Boric—have approved the Área de Conservación de Múltiples Usos - ACMU (1). In the last, unanimous decision of the Council of Ministers in August 2023, the technical opinions also took into account the bi-regional nature of the area, which is located in the Coquimbo and Atacama regions. The declaration of the protected area was prepared with workshops and citizen surveys in the municipalities of La Higuera and Freirina.

Landau, August 8, 2025. In May of this year, the Universidad Católica del Norte-UCN (1), Sernapesca (2) in the Coquimbo region, Sphenisco, and the NGO Conservación Humboldt decided to renovate the marine animal rescue center on the university grounds and operate it jointly. Sphenisco committed to covering the costs of the renovation and operation for one year. The project is supported by Frankfurt Zoo, Halle Mountain Zoo, and Dresden Zoo.

7th of August 2025

C H I L E

+++Research Population, breeding success and foraging+++

In May and June, Dr Alejandro Simeone's team once again studied the population and foraging behaviour on several Chilean breeding islands. Thomas Mattern (University of Otago, New Zealand) led the foraging studies and reported on 15th of June: "After a few intense weeks, I have now returned to New Zealand from Chile. The first week and a half of my stay was difficult due to the weather, but in the following three weeks, the work picked up speed. ... Here is a brief summary:

Landau, 6th of August 2025. On 5th of August 2025, the photo exhibition ‘Explorando el Archipiélago (Exploring the Humboldt Archipelago)’ opened in La Serena. The exhibition was sponsored by Rostock Zoo. The Sphenisco Chile Foundation sent out a press release for the opening entitled ‘La Serena da inicio a exposición itinerante sobre el Archipiélago de Humboldt’ (1), which was translated using deepl: