The African Penguin

FRENCH name : Manchot du Cap

English name : African penguin

LATINE name : Spheniscus demersus

Geographic distribution: the African penguin lives in the southern hemisphere.

Habitat: this bird lives mainly on the coasts of South Africa and Namibia.

Diet: 42 % of its basic diet is made up of  of fish, including herring, sprats, anchovies and sardines... The African penguin also likes to eat molluscs.The penguin swims and dives to obtain its food and may need to cover large distances to find preys, sometimes between 30 and 100 km away from its base.

Lifespan: the African penguin lives for between 25 and 28 years.

Size: it can measure between 60 and 70 cm in height.

Communication : the African penguin communicates by emitting raucous cries. The braying sound it makes, especially at night, is similar to that of a donkey.

Behaviour: penguins cannot fly. They have short feathers which look more like "scales". They are nevertheless very good swimmers and can reach speeds of 12 km/h underwater. 

Lifestyle: penguins are gregarious animals and live in colonies.

Reproduction: the African penguin forms mating pairs which will remain together over several consecutive breeding seasons, and sometimes even for life. The female usually lays 2 eggs each year but the breeding pair raise their offspring together working as a true team. While one looks after the chick in the nest, the other will be out hunting for food in the sea. Both parents provide food to their chicks by regurgitation.The chicks don’t stay in the nest for long (around 15 days), after which the offspring will receive parental life training at sea.

Threats: the African penguin is under grave threat from human activities, from hydrocarbon pollution (illegal hydrocarbon fuel dumping and oil spills) but also coastal construction and ill-conceived tourism. They also face dangers such as being accidentally caught in nets and suffer from man’s overfishing of species such as anchovies and herring, on which penguins feed.

Protective measures: since 1975 the African penguin has been officially protected under the Washington Convention, which, in particular, bans any trade in these penguins. 

The African penguin can be viewed at Nausicaa in the exhibition "Steer South".

For further information: follow penguin news on our blog http://capausud.livejournal.com/