African Penguin

That day in 2009 when that little penguin came waggling towards us, lost and lonely, on the outstretched beach of Palmiet near Kleinmond, we lost our hearts! 

A long string of fishing line was twisted around its little leg and was trailing behind it like a strange kind of parasite. We could see the little guy was on his last legs. Totally weakened. But what could we do to help? Give it water? Fish? Pro Nutro... the cure that magically seems to work for everything...   What was this little guy doing here, and where did it come from? Jacobus kept guard, while I raced to our holiday home to get the necessary tools and pick up Henriette and Salomien.  We needed to get this penguin to those who knew what to to ASAP.  In my mind that was Betty's Bay's penguin colony.  Jacobus caught the little bird and cut of the fishing line. In a box we transported the bird to Betty's Bay, where the people of Cape Nature cared for it with fresh water and small pieces of pilchard.

That feeling we felt  that day was overwhelming... to be of service in God's creation - to be able to really do and help something! My mother hen instincts have kicked in highest gear and it was fantastic!

Unfortunately this little guy is only one of the few lucky ones.  Many more lose their lives because we humans are careless and uncaring in our attitude about pollution and because we are negligent. In the past it was our greed that put these beautiful creatures on the brink of extinction. 

Although the 18 penguin species are only endemic to the southern hemisphere, only the African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) occurs naturally on the African coast. It is endemic to South Africa and breed on 25 islands and a few mainland sites from Port Elisabeth to Hollams Bird Island.  On the West Coast they are primarily found on the larger islands off our coastline. According to tradition, there were more than 2 and a half million of them on Dassen Island in the time of Jan van Riebeeck.

Penguins are generally seen within near distance of the mainland and seldom venture more than a couple of kilometers offshore.  Group size at sea is mostly less than ten, and birds are frequently alone.  Large groups of 50 or more, sometimes numbering hundreds are found during feeding activities, but they disperse afterwards.

African penguins live on pelagisch fish like pilchard (Sardinops osellatus) and anchovies (Engraulis capensis).  These fish live in large shoals in the cold waters of our coast. The African penguin and other species of the sphensicus-genus are different and they are recognisable by their prominent black and white stripes down their heads and torso. These stripes make the penguin clearly visible. The function of these visible stripes is specifically used to frighten the shoal so that the shoal will break up and leave the individual fish as easy prey. The African penguins feed in small swarms that work together, they circle the shoal and catch those who try to escape.

The adult African penguin can stay underwater for up to four minutes and reach a depth of 130m.  Most food is gathered at a depth of 30m though.  The speed the penguin can reach swimming, will depend on its age. A very young penguin would only be able to reach a maximum speed 5 km/h, older penguins will be up to 10 – 12 km/h and adults can reach 19 km/h just after casting feathers. Breeding penguins reach about 12 – 15 km/h.  Speed plays an important role under water because their main prey can also reach speeds of 10 - 12 km/h.

Sharks and seals are penguins' biggest natural enemies. Seals are known to jump from cliffs to get to penguins. Mortalities under penguins are high especially in the period of casting feathers, they usually starve to death.  Only recently it was found that the African Penguin also suffer from avian malaria. Just like malaria in humans, avian malaria is caused by mosquitoes. When suffering from malaria, the penguin stops eating and throws up any food it takes in. Without proper care, the penguin will die within days.

The casting cycle starts in November on most islands and last for up to 21 days - during which time the birds are landbound.  To successfully survive the casting period, the penguins must have taken in enough food reserves.  For about 5 weeks before the start of casting, the islands will be almost deserted because all penguins are busy on an intensive feeding frenzy. Shortly after arriving on the islands, the fat, clumsy penguins start losing feathers and in the following 13 days the old feathers are replaced by new ones. Afterwards the penguins go on a 6 weeks' feeding expedition to replace the lost calories.

The first men from Europe to see penguins were Bartholmeus Dias and his crew on their historic voyage in 1487. This meeting was the start of a long era of threat to the penguin population.  Not only were penguins killed for food, they were also killed and used for fuel for the ships' boilers and to be rendered down for their fat, the islands were they made their homes, were also plundered for their eggs.  Especially the islands near the Cape - Dassen Island and Robben Island, were targeted. According to estimates in as early as 1897, 700 000 penguin eggs were gathered on Dassen Island. In 1925 it was estimated on almost 500 000, and between 1900 and 1930 an astonishing 13 million eggs were harvested along the islands' coastline. The harvesting of penguin was only prohibited by law in 1968.

Apart from the gathering of penguin eggs, the scraping of guano on the islands - which destroyed large parts of the land habitat of the penguins - had a huge negative impact on the breeding success of these birds. Another factor in the declining numbers of penguins, is the systematic destroying of the fish source and the tragic results of oil pollution and oil spills along our coasts.

An example of this is the terrible Treasure oil spill in June 2000.  Volunteers jumped in to help SANCCOB (South African Foundation for Conservation of Coastal Birds) and 18 516 oiled birds from Robben - and Dassen islands were saved.  About 1957 (almost 10%) of the oiled birds died, but 19 506 unoiled birds were relocated to Cape Recife in the Eastern Cape before they were also oiled. Also, 3350 chicks were saved and reared artificially. A fantastic 12 000 volunteers worked 556 000 hours during this rescue operation.

The good news is that the African Penguin population is steadily growing. Largely giving credit to campaigns for awareness by organisations like SANCCOB.

New colonies have grown spontaneously along our coasts, e.g. in Simon's Town and Betty's Bay. On islands like Robben Island the first breeding pairs since the 1800's relocated in 1984. Today more than 2000 breeding pairs are found on the island. A lot must still be done to ensure the survival of these birds.