A Kindergarten Teacher Accidentally Became the Guardian of a Colony of 200 Penguins (3 photos)

The only mainland colony of king penguins in the world has taken up residence on a woman's farm.





Penguins began nesting on Durán's farm in Useless Bay in southern Tierra del Fuego, Chile, back in the 1990s. Soon after, she says, people posing as scientists showed up and took the birds. "They put [the penguins] in cages and took them to Japan... supposedly for scientific research." "We later learned that [most] ended up in zoos [or homes] as pets," Duran says.

After that, the penguins avoided the bay for more than a decade. When they suddenly returned to Duran Land in 2010, people almost immediately began stealing eggs and mistreating the birds. "They dressed them in caps and sunglasses and took selfies," she recalls. "The population quickly declined, and from 90 king penguins a year later, only eight remained."



Duran called a family meeting, deciding something had to be done to protect the penguins: "But who would do it? 'Mom!'" "My two daughters responded in unison." As a result, the woman began patrolling the beach. "Every day I'd come here with a thermos and a sandwich. I'd spend the whole day here, freezing to the bone... making sure people didn't disturb the penguins."



The following year, Durán fenced off 30 hectares of her farm, turning it into a protected area. She allowed visitors to observe the penguins, but only from a distance.

Another danger to the penguins was predators—minks and foxes—who preyed on eggs and chicks. Duran and her assistants decided to deter predators: they bought meat scraps from local butchers and scattered them at night far from the farm, training the foxes to hunt elsewhere.

Currently, 12 people, including biologists, veterinarians, and ecotourism specialists, help care for Duran's penguins. The farm receives 15,000 tourists annually. "It was only thanks to the sanctuary that [the penguins] received a safe place to build and establish a colony," says Dr. Clemens Pütz, scientific director of the Antarctic Research Foundation.