Galápagos Penguin

The Galápagos Penguin is the rarest penguin species and the only one found north of the equator, inhabiting the cold waters around the Galápagos archipelago. Small and dark-plumaged with a distinctive white belly and thin white line running from the eye to the ear, it hunts small fish and squid in shallow coastal waters. Breeding occurs year-round on rocky shores, though numbers remain critically low and vulnerable to El Niño events and introduced predators.