African Penguin

Boulder Beach, Western Cape, South Africa

The African penguin is an endangered species despite being abundant at the beginning of the 20th Century with a population of 1.5 million. There are now under 21,000 pairs left and they are predicted to become extinct in the wild by 2026. They are restricted to islands along the West coasts of Namibia and South Africa apart from the colony at Boulder Beach, Western Cape, where I took the photograph above of an adult female and her chick. Oil spills have also taken a huge toil on some colonies. In addition, they are victims of predation by sharks and seals and on land their eggs are stolen by gulls. Up until the 1970's, African penguin eggs were  popular source of protein amongst local people.

Feeding

African Penguins' diet includes anchovies, squid and crustaceans although they prefer  pilchards which are richer in fat and protein. They will hunt as far as 20 km from shore and can dive to nearly 200 metres spending up to close to five minutes under water.  Both pilchard and anchovy numbers are greatly reduced by over fishing and this also is believed to be a major reason why their numbers are dropping so dramatically.

Breeding

African penguins are monogamous with pairs returning to the same site at their colonies every year. They  prefer to make burrows in guano but with the depletion of guano which is used for commercial purposes, they will often dig scrapes in sand under bushes or boulders. The female lays two eggs and both parents incubate and share rearing for the first month. During fledging, chicks are moved to creches while their parents go hunting.

Wildfile Specials

• Molting is a challenging period for Africa penguins as they cannot hunt because their feathers are not waterproof. For a period of three weeks they are unable to feed and may lose half their body weight. 
• Because their call resembles a braying donkey, their alternative name is jackass penguin.