Watching wildlife in Patagonia is amazing. Here, we have chosen just some of them to tell you about...
Guanacos
Guanacos, are the biggest terrestrial vertebrates in Patagonia. They live in groups composed by a territorial male and up to ten females with her youngs. An adult male is between 90 cms and 1,3 mt height and its body is covered by a fire colored layer of long and smooth hair, except in the belly, that is completely white. The head is small and has the pointed ears; the neck long and curved, and the legs are long and thin. The guanaco is a good swimmer able to cross from an island to another. Even though they are very quick, often they are victims of its predators due to their enormous curiosity. Favorite food: "Coirión" a very common grass in the zone.
Penguins
The Magallanes Penguin belongs to the SPHENISCIFORMES order and the Spheniscidae family. Its beak is flattened at the sides and has a hook like end. Its tail is short and sharp-pointed; its wings are transformed into swimming fins and are not fit for flying, its legs are short and end in palmate feet with a swimming membrane. Male and female have no visible external differences. Adults are about 70 cms tall and their average weight is 4 kg., males being slightly larger. Their feathers are black on their back while their chest and the stripe surrounding the face are white. On their chest they have a double black stripe collar, one of these stripes goes back and the other goes down. The world population of these penguins is estimated near one million five hundred thousand couples, considering about a million individuals in Magallanes region. One the most important colonies in the region is the one on Magdalena Island in the middle of the Magellan Strait.
The Puma
The Puma is the biggest feline of Chile. Its coloration varies depending its area of distribution, including the great range of reddish gray yellows until brown. Youngs are coffee with yellowish spots. Their head is rounded, have short neck and thick legs. The Puma measures between 130-156 cms length, 60-70 cms height and between 60 and 100 kilograms weight. It is a basically nocturnal animal, that feeds itself on rodents, rabbits, foxes, guanacos, vicuñas, pudúes and huemules among others. Sometimes feeds on domestic animals like sheeps and lambs as well.
The Ñandú
The Ñandú is a big bird that can weight up to 20 kgs. It is a good runner, colored gray and brown with white dots and whiter in the inferior parts. Ñandues have a long brown neck and yellowish long legs and a brown. They can not fly. Their wings are very small. Have three fingers, which difference them from the ostriches that have only two. Form small flocks, are poligamyst and several females put between 12 and 30 eggs all in a same nest which are incubated by the male.
