Landau, 1st of June
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+++Population of Humboldt penguins+++
The last three breeding seasons have been cancelled due to a lack of food. El Niño and bird flu have reduced the Humboldt penguin population (see article ‘El Niño and ...’ from 25th of February 2025). It is only unclear how great the losses are. On 26th of May, researchers led by Dr Alexandro Simeone began to count breeding pairs again on the island of Pan de Azucar (1). Further counts are planned for June on the islands of Grande de Atacama, Ramada and Chañaral. In addition, GPS loggers and video cameras will again be used to investigate foraging behaviour on the islands of Choros and Chachagua, where breeding pairs will also be counted. Further counts are to be carried out on other important Chilean gross islands in October and November. The six-year research project is being funded by the Species Conservation Foundation of Karlsruhe Zoo, Dresden Zoo and the Hagenbeck Zoo Friends' Association. 

Landau, 7th of April 2025

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+++Sphenisco Chile+++
Sphenisco Chile is focusing its work this year on citizen participation in the design of the Humboldt Archipelago Marine Protected Area. Nancy Duman's team will hold audiences with all the new regional and municipal authorities in the municipalities of La Higuera, Coquimbo, Freirina, La Serena, as well as the governors and environmental advisors in the regions of Atacama and Coquimbo. During the talks, the employees will advocate for the protection of the archipelago and its sustainable use. In addition to ongoing advocacy, the team plans to repeat the successful literary competition “the Humboldt Archipelago in 110 words” and continue the Sintonía Humboldt video podcast. The following projects are also to be realized:
- “Humboldt Penguins in the Neighborhood” (murals in villages),
- Humboldt Archipelago” traveling photo exhibition in the communities of La Higuera and Coquimbo,
- Organization of natural history hikes,
- the establishment of information points in the village of Chungungo and near Yerba buena.

Landau, 22th of February 2025

Preliminary remark
On 8th of January 2025, the Committee of Ministers of the Boric government once again rejected the Dominga mining and port project (see article from 12 January on these pages). As announced, the owner of the project, the company Andes Iron, has lodged an appeal against the decision.

Landau, 06th of February 2025

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+++Research on the island of Cachagua, Chile+++
From 30 November to 8 December 2024, the radius of action and diving behaviour of breeding Humboldt penguins were studied using GPS dive data loggers on the island of Cachagua, Chile. The work planned for this breeding period on the island of Choros (Humboldt Penguin National Reserve) had to be postponed due to the lack of breeding birds (see ‘Preliminary report on ...’ on these pages).

Burnie, Nuremberg, 06. January 2025

Almost a year ago, we reported for the first time about "Penguin Rehab & Release", a sanctuary for penguins (and other seabirds) in Burnie, Tasmania: (Pygmy) Penguins Need Your Help!

Landau, Dezember 8, 2024

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+++Winners of the literary competition at the feminist book fair+++
The winners of the literary competition “Humboldt Archipelago with 110 Words” presented their prize-winning stories at the 5th Feminist Book Fair in La Serena and met with great response.

The book fair was organized by the feminist book network of the Coquimbo region and took place on 4 October in the San Francisco square in La Serena. At twelve stands, book and music publishers presented their products, organized author rounds and - as mentioned - offered space for the works of the winners of the “Humboldt Archipelago in 110 Words” competition to be presented. Nancy Duman from Sphenisco-Chile completed the presentations with a report on the process and significance of the competition.

La Higuera, Landau, 9th of November 2024: La Higuera has voted. On 27th of October, municipal and gubernatorial elections were held in the small municipality (4,285 inhabitants), as in the rest of Chile. Mayors, municipal councillors, governors and regional councillors were elected - comparable to municipal councillors at regional level only.

Landau, 6th of October 2024

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+++Video podcast “Sintonia Humboldt ”+++
The second season of the weekly video podcast “Sintonía Humboldt” has been running since August 12 (see article Second season of the video podcast “Sintonía Humboldt” launched). The following topics were discussed and debated in the podcast in August and September:
12th of August
“Multi-use Marine Protected Area in the Humboldt Archipelago (AMCP-MU)” with Leonardo Gros, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Environment, Coquimbo Region.

Landau 27 August 2024 - a perfect anniversary. The best (zoo) weather, lots of political celebrities including Prime Minister Alexander Schweitzer and Lord Mayor Dr. Dominik Geißler and a record-breaking attendance of visitors. They all celebrated the 120th anniversary of the Landau Zoo. The celebration began with a reception, which was musically shaped by the United Concert Band under the direction of Thomas Winter. Zoo director Dr. Jens-Ove Heckel welcomed and thanked everybody, actually everbody of the zoo's long-standing companions, supporters and partners. That was challenging, but clearly demonstrated the zoo's incredibly large and wide network.