Africa’s only resident penguin species is now officially critically endangered, according to a recent assessment by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Over the past century, the African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) has suffered precipitous declines in its population. In the mid-1950s, there were an estimated 141,000 breeding pairs of African penguins, or 282,000 […]
Tag: African penguin
African Penguins Face Dire Future as Fish Stocks Decline
Conservationists watch and note as Penguin 999.000000007425712 returns to the Stony Point colony in Betty’s Bay, South Africa, after a day of foraging. She left early in the morning weighing 2.7 kg and returned having gained only 285 grams, a worrying sign of dwindling fish stocks. Eleanor Weideman, a coastal seabird project manager for BirdLife […]
Penguins in peril: why two bird charities are taking South Africa’s environment minister to court
It’s 3.40pm on a Thursday and Penguin 999.000000007425712 has just returned to the Stony Point penguin colony in Betty’s Bay, South Africa, after a day of foraging. She glides elegantly through the turquoise waters before clambering comically up the rocks towards the nest where her partner is incubating two beige eggs. She doesn’t realise it, […]