Argentina and Chile. Rowdy Rheas and Pensive Penguins: Patagonian Wildlife Stories
Nearly everyone who has taken a long-distance drive has a story about a near miss with wildlife. A few years ago, a friend and I planned a five-week trip through South America. Almost half of our itinerary involved driving through the Patagonian region of Argentina and Chile. Beginning in Buenos Aires, we would drive south through pampas grasslands towards mountainous parts of Tierra del Fuego and then north through the Chilean Andes. For our final segment we drove east to complete the loop. Unsure as to whether our rental car insurance would cover costs associated with an accident involving domestic animals or wildlife, we were especially vigilant to “see and avoid” road hazards.
At our first sighting of a llama-like guanaco we enthusiastically pulled over to take photos. Weighing 90 to 140 kilograms, guanacos eat flowers, cacti, shrubs, and grasses. Under most circumstances their woolly and brownish or rusty red coat forms a contrast with black asphalt. Most often traveling in small groups, guanacos are capable of running 56 kilometers an hour. Fortunately, guanacos have “tells” that help in interpreting their state of mind. While ears-up is a sign that all is normal, ears-forward signals danger. As we continued southward, guanaco sightings became more routine, so we pointed them out only if there was a chance of a collision.
With a considerably smaller profile, rheas were a somewhat more worrisome hazard. A distant relative of the African ostrich and Australian emu, rheas are flightless birds that can reach heights of 1.5 meters. With a basket-ball shaped body, grey-brown plumage, and long necks and legs, they are found in the open grasslands and pampas of Patagonia where they eat seeds, fruit, roots, and herbaceous plants. When attempting to run or flee, a rhea may raise a wing for balance.
As the highway began to hug the Argentinian Atlantic coast south of Rivadavia, we stopped for the night at a beach house near the town of Caleta Olivia. After settling in, we took a walk along a bluff above the beach. A few meters below us was a colony of 30 Patagonian sea lions. Male sea lions can be distinguished by their size (about three times larger than females) and a mane around their neck. The sea lion diet includes squid, Argentine hake, anchovies, pelicans, and sometimes penguins. While most appeared indifferent to our presence, a few males maintained a watchful eye over us as they supervised their harem of females and adolescents.
Continuing south we reached Ushuaia (population 82,000), a city described as being “…at the end of the earth.” Located south of the Martial Mountains and north of the Beagle Channel, Ushuaia is just 1,100 kilometers from Antarctica. At 54° south latitude, it is the world’s southernmost city. After checking in at our hotel we took a walk-in search of a restaurant. The next morning, we made our way to Estancia Harbor where we boarded a bus to Haberton Ranch. From there we found seats on a rubber Zodiac for the 15-minte boat ride to the penguin rookery on Martillo Island. Sharing the beach with cormorants, petrels, and South American terns, Magellanic and Gentoo penguins arrive at the island each year between September and April. The rookery on Martillo is one of three in Tierra del Fuego and the only nesting location for Gentoo penguins in South America. Magellanic penguins can be distinguished by their white abdomen and two white strips between their head and chest. They are named for Portuguese explorer Fernand Magellan who first saw them in 1520. Feeding on squid, cuttlefish, and crustaceans, about 100,000 Magellanic penguins return to Martillo each year with females reoccupying the same nest. Gentoo penguins are much less numerous and can be distinguished by their orange beaks and a white stripe extending across their heads. We were careful not to approach too closely or make noises that would frighten the birds. Some stared at us while others seemed oblivious to our presence as they casually waddled in and out of the surf.
Returning to Ushuaia, we took a short drive to Tierra del Fuego National Park where we saw upland (aka Magellan) geese. Whereas males have a white head, neck, and abdomen, female upland geese are a grey-brown color. The species was first described by ornithologist John Latham in 1775 during Captain James Cook’s second Pacific voyage. We also had a brief encounter with a solitary South American gray fox (aka Patagonian fox) in a vehicle pull-off. With large ears and a long tail, the gray fox eats small mammals, birds, fruit, insects, and sometimes reptiles and hares. Knowing the possibility of the fox being rabid we kept our distance.
