Just in time for Penguin Awareness Day on Friday, January 20th, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has released underwater footage taken by Magellanic penguins equipped with cameras. The footage shows the penguins zipping through coastal waters of Argentina in Tierra del Fuego Province.

The cameras were attached to the penguins by a team of scientists from CADIC-CONICET, supported by WCS Argentina, Antarctic Research Trust and Tawaki Project..  The GPS equipped cameras are harmless to the penguins and are retrieved by the scientists when the penguins return to their nests.

For more than 50 years, WCS has been researching and promoting the conservation of penguins off the coast and in the Argentine Sea. WCS promotes the creation and effective management of marine and coastal protected areas to conserve penguins. In addition, WCS works with integrated land management practices that enhance protection of breeding colonies on private lands among other conservation initiatives.

Along with its field conservation work, WCS has seven species of penguins at three of its five wildlife parks in New York City – Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, and New York Aquarium. The Polar Circle exhibit at the Central Park Zoo features king, gentoo, chinstrap, and macaroni penguins. The Bronx Zoo has Magellanic and little blue penguins in the Aquatic Bird House and Sea Bird Aviary, and African black-footed penguins can be seen at the New York Aquarium.