Patagonia wildlife - land and sea

Patagonia is one of the world’s remotest and most mysterious destinations, located at the southern tip of South America. This far-flung land is also home to a phenomenal array of Patagonian wildlife, both on land and in the ocean.

Patagonia lies in the 'roaring 40s' - between latitudes 37° and 51° south - where fierce winds buffet its shoreline. The Atlantic Ocean borders Patagonia to the east, the Andes Mountains and Pacific to the west and the Strait of Magellan to the south. Most of the region is in Argentina, although the small section south of the strait called Tierra del Fuego - ‘The End of the World’ - is Chilean territory. The southernmost tip of this remote, mysterious land lies just 1,000 kilometres from Antarctica.

Vast steppe lands and desert plateaus cover most of Patagonia. However, glacial lakes and rugged mountains become predominant features of the landscape as it nears the Andes. The 3200-kilometre-long eastern coastline is mainly inaccessible and completely undeveloped. Patagonia’s far-flung location has facilitated weird and wonderful wildlife evolving here. It is home to a fascinating menagerie of animals on land and in the sea.

Patagonian wildlife - On land

Tarantulas

On Patagonia’s desert flats lives one of the world’s most feared spiders - the tarantula. This formidable Patagonian wildlife species is also the planet’s largest arachnid. Its powerful fangs can kill small mammals and birds and deliver a painful bite to human beings. However, these spiders are non-toxic. Most people will have no dramatic or long-lasting symptoms from a tarantula bite unless they have an allergic reaction.

Female tarantulas make their burrows in the sandy soil here and wait for males to approach them to mate. When they do so, they alert the females of their approach by tapping out a rhythm on the desert floor. The courtship process is a risky one for male tarantulas. If the female decides he is ‘not her type’, she will kill him without hesitation. However, if she deems him a suitable mate, she will allow him to approach her and engage in a gentle mutual stroking ritual.

She then seems to enter a trance-like state during the rest of the mating process. Nevertheless, once the male has deposited his sperm, he retreats swiftly before she becomes fully active - a potentially life-saving tactic. Should this femme fatale awake in a bad mood, the father of her spiderlings is unlikely to survive the encounter. Unsurprisingly, while female tarantulas can live up to 30 years in the wild, males’ lives tend to be significantly shorter.

Mara

Another fascinating Patagonian wildlife species is the mara, a member of the rodent family that resembles a long-legged guinea pig. These animals have an interesting parenting style. After giving birth, mother maras leave their children in a communal ‘nursery’. They check in on the youngsters intermittently, keeping a close eye out for predators and sounding the alarm should one appear. However, while the mara moms are happy to play guardian to all the babies, they will only suckle their own. They can identify their babies by scent and refuse to feed any others. Hungry little ones who approach the wrong parent in the hope of a feed will get swiftly and unequivocally rejected. They have to wait until their birth mother arrives to receive a meal.

Guanaco

Many aeons ago, the two Americas were separate continents. However, when the sea levels dropped circa three million years ago, a land passage opened between them. We now know this isthmus as Central America. The channel allowed previously isolated animals to travel between the two hemispheres, evolving as they adapted to new environments. For example, the North American camel made its way across thousands of kilometres to Patagonia’s remote grasslands. Here, it became the guanaco. North American camels first existed in North America some 40 million years ago; however, they are now long since extinct. They were the original predecessors of African and Asian camels, as well as llamas and alpacas.

In remote parts of Peru, Argentina, and Chile, including Patagonia, these ancient animals slowly transformed into guanacos. Today, this Patagonian wildlife species more closely resemble deer than their camel predecessors. They are herbivores that spend most of their time peacefully grazing on wilderness pastures. However, they can get surprisingly feisty during mating season, when male guanacos will fight ferociously to protect their harem of ladies.

Patagonian wildlife - Sea

Penguins

Magellanic penguins appear on Patagonian shores every September after travelling some 2,500 kilometres from the Atlantic Ocean, where they spend the winter months. When they arrive on these remote shores, it is the first time they will have touched dry land for roughly six months. Male penguins arrive earlier after spending six months apart from their partners. Like most penguin species, this Patagonian wildlife species is monogamous and mate with the same partner year after year.

As the females swim ashore a couple of weeks later, the males greet them with a cacophony of calls. This raucous orchestra sounds utterly chaotic and confusing to the human ear. However, female penguins can recognise their man’s unique calls and pin down his exact whereabouts on this basis. Consequently, their arrival results in multiple couple reunions, which the lovers celebrate with much fanfare. They express their mutual delight in seeing each other in a ritual of feather-fluffing, mutual beak and body rubbing, and elaborate head bows.

Elephant Seals

The arrival of spring also draws another formidable Patagonian wildlife species to the country’s coasts - elephant seals. Bull elephant seals usually weigh around 3,000 kilograms, and cows between 300 and 900 kilograms before giving birth. Older, dominant bulls are known as ‘beach masters’ and typically have up to 12 females in their harem. The cows give birth to their pups just days after arriving on this rugged coast. In the following weeks, the pups grow rapidly, tripling their weight, while the mothers lose approximately half their body fat.

Nevertheless, elephant seal cows are ready to mate again less than a month after giving birth. During this time, the beach master mates with all his ladies. Additionally, he keeps a close eye on them because bachelor bulls are always lurking nearby. Occasionally, when the beach master turns his back, one of these challenging bulls will manage to steal one of the cows away.

Whales

Whales, too, are migratory visitors to Patagonia’s coastline. Two sheltered gulfs on the Atlantic coast provide a haven for Southern right whales. These oceanic mammals weigh more than 50,000 kilograms and can reach over 16 metres in length. However, they are gentle giants who feed only on plankton and display remarkable social bonds. Particularly, southern right whales nurture their young with the utmost devotion.

From roughly June to November, this Patagonian wildlife species come to mate and calve in these calm, shallow waters. During these months, their calls resonate across these protected bays. The whales remain here until the babies are big enough to brave the open Atlantic’s stronger ocean currents and colder waters. Nevertheless, as the winter draws to a close, they make their mammoth annual journey back to the Antarctic. They will remain here for the summer before the majority return to Patagonia the following autumn. Southern right whales repeat this never-ending cycle of birth, growth, and renewal year after year.

Fascinating destination

Patagonian wildlife, like the country itself, is fascinating, enigmatic, and compelling. These animals have evolved to withstand some of the planet’s harshest terrain and weather and prospered in these habitats.

The chance to experience them is just one of the many reasons to visit this country at the tip of the earth.