South America
Argentina extends more than three thousand five hundred kilometres from north to south and strings together the subtropical forest of Misiones, with the Iguazú Falls, the dry Chaco, the Iberá wetlands, the pampas, the Patagonian steppe, the Andes with Aconcagua, and the forests and glaciers of the south as far as Tierra del Fuego. The Valdés peninsula, on the Atlantic, is an exceptional enclave where southern right whales come to calve alongside elephant seals, sea lions and Magellanic penguins in colonies of hundreds of thousands of pairs. In the northwest, the puna and the high-altitude salt flats hold flamingos and vicuñas, and on the river lowlands the Iberá marshes have become the largest rewilding project in the Americas.
National animal: The rufous hornero, the country's national bird
At Punta Norte, on the Valdés peninsula, a handful of orcas practise a hunting technique known almost nowhere else in the world: they use the high tide to charge the shore, deliberately stranding themselves on the shingle to seize sea lion pups, then twist their way back into the water. It is a risky manoeuvre that adult females teach their calves over years, pushing them up the beach and dragging them back.
In the Iberá marshes the jaguar has been reintroduced after seventy years of absence, along with the giant anteater, the pampas deer, the peccary and the red-and-green macaw, in the most ambitious wildlife restoration operation on the continent. The huemul, Patagonia's emblematic deer, remains endangered with highly fragmented populations.
The Valdés peninsula between June and December for southern right whales, and in March and April for the orcas at Punta Norte. Iberá year-round for capybaras, deer and jaguars. Iguazú in spring for forest birds.
What is worth looking out for this month in Argentina?
VulnerableSouthern Elephant Seal
Mirounga leonina
Now is a good time: Intentional stranding of killer whales at Peninsula Valdes (March and April at Punta Norte; October and November at Caleta Valdes)
EndangeredKiller Whale
Orcinus orca
Now is a good time: Intentional stranding of killer whales at Peninsula Valdes (March and April at Punta Norte; October and November at Caleta Valdes)
Least ConcernSouth American Sea Lion
Otaria flavescens
Now is a good time: Intentional stranding of killer whales at Peninsula Valdes (March and April at Punta Norte; October and November at Caleta Valdes)
Now is a good time: Southern right whales at Peninsula Valdes (June to December (peak Jul-Oct))
394 species found
Based on what we already know about Argentina.