www.birdlife.org.za

30 April - 6 May 2007

MARCH FOR THE PENGUINSTHE AFRICAN PENGUIN - A SOUTHERN AFRICAN ENDEMIC SEABIRD

It sounds like a donkey, swims underwater like a seal and eats fish like a shark – this is the African penguin. Its older name of jackass penguin comes from its call that resembles that of a donkey or ass. Our African penguin is endemic (only occurs) in southern Africa (the area south of the Kunene and Zambezi rivers) and lives all its life in the ocean, on beaches and the offshore islands of southern Africa. They are highly sociable (love company) and live in large colonies where they make nests under rocks and in dune vegetation. This also where their droppings collect to form guano (thick layers of droppings), a very valuable fertilizer that used to be harvested many years ago. People also harvested their eggs for eating and both this and the collection of guano had a very negative effect on the African penguin.

Ships that sail around the Cape of Good Hope with hundreds of thousands of tonnes of crude oil pose a real threat to the African penguin if they become damaged in storms of run aground on rocky reefs close to the coast. The wave action of the sea will drive spilt crude oil to the shore and pollute beaches, estuaries (river mouths that flow out into the ocean) and birds like the African penguin. There were incidents in the past fifteen years were more than 10,000 African penguins and other seabirds were polluted with crude oil and it took a lot of effort and time to clean these birds up.

The African penguin is white and black with pink above the eye. It is specially adapted for living in the marine (sea) environment. Its body is covered with a thick skin that has short feathers that appears to look like hair. The body is shaped like a torpedo in order to allow it to swim very fast underwater. It can see fish

African penguin introduction© BirdLife South Africa May 2007

very well underwater and hunts them effectively by darting after them and taking them in their beaks. This specially adapted body is also equipped with two modified wings that look like the flippers of dolphins and the birds use them to propel (drive) themselves through the water. A penguin’s feet look like a duck’s feet with webs that also help the bird to steer the bird underwater. It can stay underwater for long enough to catch fish but once they have the fish they rise to the surface and eat the fish while breathing normally.

They mainly eat pilchards and other small fish that live in large shoals (groups of fish). Unfortunately overfishing by people of the fish has depleted the stocks of fish that form the most important part of the African penguin’s diet. There are records of them in numbers of over half a million on Dassen Island off the Western Cape coast but now there are not even 70,000 birds left on the island.

The oil spills from big ships also threaten the survival of the African penguin. Crude oil covers their bodies and poisons them with all the chemicals that are present in the oil. If they become oiled they have to be washed several times with special soaps to clean their feathers. Thereafter they have to be kept in captivity until their own natural oil has oiled their feathers to make them waterproof or else the birds will be too cold in the water.

They lay one or two eggs in their nests that are lined with feathers, dried seaweeds and other materials. They mostly raise one nestling after incubating (brooding) the eggs for 38 to 41 days. Young penguins spend nearly 4 months in the nest before they join their parents in the flocks on the beaches. Even as very young birds they can swim very well.

Due to the fact that the African penguin is flightless (cannot fly); it remains on land or in the sea. On land they cannot escape predators like seals, dogs, cats and jackals and the birds are highly vulnerable (easy targets) to such predators. Young seal bulls kill many penguins around the West Coast and Robben Island. Cats on Robben Island also kill penguin chicks in the nest. Sharks also eat penguins but that is natural and shouldn’t have any negative impact on the African penguin population.

It is also known that people sometimes injure and kill penguins. This has prompted Cape Nature (the nature conservation authority of the Western Cape) to implement (put in place) special protective measures for the African penguin. At colonies like Stoney Point at Betty’s Bay and Boulders in Simonstown the penguins enjoy specially protected areas but people still have the opportunity to visit them and see them in their natural habitat.

Plastic packaging materials and fishing line also threaten the African penguins. Fishing line that is left on rocky beaches often entangles penguins with disastrous effects for the poor birds. It cuts into their bodies and create festering wounds that will eventually kill the penguins.

The African penguin needs our support in order for them to survive. We as people have to put a stop to overfishing of the sea fish, clean up our beaches, stop polluting the shores and sea with plastics and prevent oil spills that impact severely on the penguins. Fishermen should never leave fishing line on beaches and when fishing line gets stuck they should do their best to retrieve (collect) all the line to prevent it from impacting on penguins. People who use beaches for leisure (for swimming and sunning) must not leave any plastic materials on the beach. Large ships that sail around the world must not dump their waste overboard (over the ship) because it all ends up on beaches.

Read more about the African penguin at http://www.botany.uwc.ac.za/presents/focuson/penguins, http://marineprogramme.birdlife.co.za and in Roberts Birds of Southern Africa Seventh Edition or the SASOL Birds of Southern Africa field guide third edition.

African penguin introduction© BirdLife South Africa May 2007