African Penguin
Spheniscus demersus
The penguin of Africa's warm beaches — and one of the most threatened penguins alive.
African penguins live on the coasts of South Africa and Namibia, where it's warm enough that overheating is a real danger. They used to be called jackass penguins because their call sounds like a braying donkey. And they're in serious trouble: there are fewer than 10,000 pairs left.
On the conservation status
Listed as Critically Endangered. In 2023 there were about 9,900 breeding pairs, down from around 141,000 in the 1950s, and the decline has been speeding up — mostly because there aren't enough sardines and anchovies left near their colonies.
- Height
- 60–70 cm
- Weight
- 2.2–3.5 kg
- Lifespan
- Up to 27 years in the wild
- Diet
- Sardines, anchovies, horse mackerel, herring
- Eggs
- One or two, 38–41 days to hatch
- Range
- Coasts of South Africa and Namibia
The good stuff.
Built-in air conditioning
The pink patches above their eyes are bare skin. When a penguin gets hot, more blood flows there and the patches turn pinker, letting the heat escape.
The donkey penguin
Their loud, braying call sounds like a donkey, which is why they used to be called jackass penguins.
Every chest is different
The pattern of black spots on each penguin's white chest is unique, so researchers can tell individuals apart just by looking.
They lost their nests to guano harvesting
African penguins used to dig their nests into thick layers of old bird droppings called guano. People harvested the guano, which left the penguins nesting out in the open, where nests can overheat or flood.
Oil spills
Two oil spills, in 1994 and 2000, killed about 30,000 African penguins, even with huge rescue efforts.
No-fishing zones help
When fishing was banned within 20 km of some colonies, the penguins there didn't have to work as hard to find food, and more of their chicks survived.
Wait, really?
- ✦
Penguins only started nesting at Boulders Beach, near Cape Town, in the 1980s.
- ✦
Collecting their eggs used to be a big reason they declined. It's illegal now.
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In Namibia, the most important colony, Mercury Island, had more than 2,500 pairs in 2015 and none at all in 2023.
What it sounds like
You're hearing African penguins at Boulders Beach, South Africa.
A loud, donkey-like bray — that's where the old name jackass penguin came from.
Recording: Vortichez · CC BY 4.0 · Source
Where you might see one
Boulders Beach and Betty's Bay, near Cape Town in South Africa.
The trouble
- Not enough sardines and anchovies near their colonies, from fishing and shifting fish stocks
- Oil spills and pollution near busy shipping ports
- Nesting in the open, where heat and rain destroy nests
One real thing
Choose fish that's caught responsibly, and support the no-fishing zones around penguin colonies — the data shows they work.
More ways to help