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argentina Archives - juesatta (CJ Photography)

Nature’s most loyal lovers: Magellanic penguins always return to same mate after solo journeys totaling 200,000 miles

By Compassion, Wisdom
Faithful: New research shows how a pair of Magellanic penguins were loyal to each other for 16 years

Faithful: New research shows how a pair of Magellanic penguins were loyal to each other for 16 years

● Penguin couple stayed together for 16 years, smashing all previous records
● New research shows incredible loyalty in spite of the epic distances travelled by the bird

As the UK divorce rate continues to soar, a new study has today shown how marital harmony is thriving in the penguin world.

Research has revealed a pair of Magellanic penguins as among the most faithful in the animal kingdom.

The couple have remained loyal to each other over a 16-year period, in spite of spending thousands of miles apart during their winter trips.

Loyal: A pair of penguins can track each other down among hundreds of thousands of other birds using a distinctive call

Loyal: A pair of penguins can track each other down among hundreds of thousands of other birds using a distinctive call

The findings come after a 30-year study of the breed where researchers placed metal identity bands on the flippers of 50,000 birds on the southern coast of Argentina.

Previously penguin relationships were believed to span a maximum of just 10 years, with many cut short by the unexpected death of birds during migration.

Loving: A Magellanic penguin stays loyal to the same mate, in spite of long periods apart

Loving: A Magellanic penguin stays loyal to the same mate, in spite of long periods apart

‘Divorce’ is also a possibility as couples who fail to hatch chicks will split up and find new mates.

But according to The Sunday Telegraph, biologists have been surprised by the longevity of the relationship between a particular couple.

‘The bond they have is incredible really,’ lead researcher Dr Pablo Garcia Borboroglu, of the National Research Council of Argentina, told the newspaper.

‘It is unbelievable how far Magellanic penguins swim – and each breeding season they come back to the same nest and to the same partner.’

The research was revealed during a lecture to the Whitley Fund for Nature in London, and Dr Borboroglu will set out his findings in a book to be published next year called Penguins: Natural History and Conservation.

Magellanic penguins can only be found around the Falkland Islands and South America.
Argentina has the highest population, with 900,000 breeding pairs in Argentina, while there are 800,000 couples in Chile.

But their numbers have dropped dramatically since the turn of the century due to oil pollution and falling fish numbers and there are thought to be around 1.2 million left in the world.

Dr Borboroglu’s project also used satellite tracking to identify the movements of the birds, showing the enormous journeys they travel each winter to the warmer waters of Brazil.

Every year, the penguins arrive at their summer nests in the southern hemisphere and find their partners using a distinctive call.

After reuniting and mating, the female usually lay two eggs, which each partner takes turns guarding while the other goes out to sea.

After they hatch, the parents spend a month caring for their young before heading off to their wintering area.

The penguins join a roll call of other animals that undertake loyal relationships, including the albatross, French angelfish and black vultures.

Mates for life: In spite of long distance flights, albatrosses always return to breed with the same partners

Mates for life: In spite of long distance flights, albatrosses always return to breed with the same partners

Jealous: Like the Magellanic penguin, black vultures are strictly monogamous

Jealous: Like the Magellanic penguin, black vultures are strictly monogamous

[source : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2234755/Magellanic-penguins-return-mate-solo-journeys-totalling-200-000-miles.html]

Loyal dog spends six years at master’s grave

By Compassion
Loyal: Capitan has not left the side of Miguel Guzman's grave since 2006 - and sleeps on top of it every night

Loyal: Capitan has not left the side of Miguel Guzman’s grave since 2006 – and sleeps on top of it every night

A dog is known to be man’s best friend. This is indeed true in the case of a faithful and loyal dog in Villa Carlos Paz in Argentina named Captain who stayed at his master’s grave for six years and counting. The news first came out from Argentinian newspaper La Vos last September 9, 2012.

Capitan was a German Shepherd which was a gift by his master Miguel Guzman to his son Damian Guzman in 2005. Initially, Miguel’s wife Veronica Moreno refused the dog because it will just bring extra work to them. Little did they know that this dog will become a loyal and faithful friend to Miguel even after his death in 2006.

When Miguel suddenly died in 2006, the family found that the dog was missing upon returning home right after the funeral.

“We searched for him but he had vanished. We thought he must have got run over and died. Until one day, when me and my son went to the cemetery, we found him there. Damian started screaming after seeing Capitan, and the dog approached us, and barking as if it was crying,” Veronica, Miguel’s widowed wife told a local newspaper.

Hector Baccega, the cemetery’s director recalled the day when he first saw the dog. “He turned up here one day, all on his own, and started wandering all around the cemetery until he eventually found the tomb of his master. During the day he sometimes has a walk around the cemetery, but always rushes back to the grave. And every day, at six o’clock sharp, he lies down on top of the grave and stays there all night,” he said.

Miguel’s son Damian tried several times to bring the dog back at home but Capitan always goes back to the cemetery. “I think he’s going to be there until he dies too. He’s looking after my dad,” he said.

Currently, staffs at the cemetery feeds and cares for Capitan. Until now, the mystery still lies as to how on earth did Capitan know where the location of his master’s grave where in fact the family never brought him in that place.

This is a true test of love and loyalty. It goes to show that Capitan’s never ending faithfulness to his master Miguel cannot be broken even after death.