African Penquins

All marine wildlife should be protected, the African penguin being one of them. African penguins live in colonies along the Western coast and islands between South Africa and Namibia and one of their colonies, Boulders Beach, is a popular attraction for travellers visiting Cape Town.

In a century African penguin numbers have dropped over 99%. The wild African penguin population has been in decline due to habitat destruction, commercial over-fishing, pollution and oil spills. At the beginning of the 20th century there were an estimated 3 million wild African penguins and today there is less than 19,000 breeding pairs left in the wild.

They spend most their life hunting small fish. Unfortunately the fish moved 300 miles east. In breeding season the African penguins return to the same place but there are no fish. Meaning that with the fish 300 miles east, most the chicks don't make it. 

Cristina Hagan came up with a plan. She found a place for the penguins that had a plenty of the fish that African penguins eat. Her plan was that with a ready supply of food it would make breeding season easier and more chicks would survive. She asked sculptor Rolf Darling to create some penguin models. They then placed these fake penguins around the island in order to attract the real African penguins to the island and encourage them to settle.

There is more information about this great project here. We think that this is a great idea to help raise the numbers of African penguins. It also made us think about how much our actions as humans affects the wildlife population around the world. We may not be able to afford to send money to help this project but we can make small changes at home to help reduce our impact on the environment. 

~ Ella & Theo