Posted on October 17, 2015
According to the Facebook page for this event, only 2% of the endangered African penguin population remains, at least in the wild. Most of them live along the eastern cape of South Africa. Events being held in South Africa today include educational talks but also carnival activities like face painting and henna tattoos, a treasure hunt and a snake show, jumpers and rides and game booths, and of course lots of fun food fare. The funds raised go to saving the endangered birds!
There is also an informational event focusing on African penguins at the Six Flags Discovery Kingdom half a world away, near San Francisco, California! Perhaps, indeed, there is an event near you?!
The African penguin makes a funny donkey-like sound, has cute pink patches of skin above the eyes and black face-mask feathers, and has the penguin's characteristic cute waddle on land but fast-and-flawless “flight” through the water. It's around two feet (60 – 70 cm) tall.The African penguin is endangered because people have been collecting their eggs and harvesting their guano (poop), but also because humans have been disturbing their habitat – oil spills and overfishing and climate change...
...Sigh!
I always wonder what hope there is for endangered animals in general when even super “cute,” charismatic, popular animals like penguins teeter on the edge of extinction!
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| Apparently the seemingly random black spots help to identify the individual - they are as distinctive as fingerprints! |
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| Notice that some penguins' pink eye patches are brighter than others. Apparently, these special glands get pinker when the temperatures go up, because more blood goes to the glands to be cooled. This African penguin is shown with chicks, which don't yet seem to have active pink glands...? |
Find out more about African penguins with this video!
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