Penguins: Dapper, fascinating creatures. And endangered

UPCOMING COURT CASE

Penguins: Dapper, fascinating creatures. And endangered

MAX DU PREEZ shares his obsession with penguins and his fear that they may soon become extinct.

ANGELA TUCK
ANGELA TUCK

Hello. My name is Max du Preez. I’m addicted to penguins.

How could I not be? I encounter these charming, fascinating creatures every day. There’s a pair that built a nest in a hedge just around the corner from my house, I see penguins on my daily walks with my dog, and I live just a few hundred metres from the largest penguin colony at Boulders Beach in Penguin Town, also known as Simon’s Town.

© MAX DU PREEZ
© MAX DU PREEZ

You’ll probably describe penguins as “odd” until you’ve seen them underwater or observed their daily behaviour. Then you’ll choose the word “magnificent”.


Lees hierdie artikel in Afrikaans


Okay, sure, they have a comical waddle on land, but let’s be fair –they’re birds that can’t fly. In the water, however, they are super-athletes.

Just look.

They’re also curious, spunky, and stubborn creatures with unique personalities. I’ve encountered a few very arrogant males that gave me a once-over as if judging me. If they had middle fingers, I’m sure they would have shown them to me.

Two weeks ago, a penguin was hit by a car outside my local café one evening. Its mate stood completely still, upright in the middle of the road, keeping vigil over the lifeless body until conservationists came to remove it. It was heartbreaking.

Every time I see a penguin, the same thought hits me: Within 10 or 11 years, they could be extinct if we don’t act quickly. Then I think back to the stuffed dodo I saw in a museum in Mauritius.

There is someone who can do something meaningful to ensure that our grandchildren and great-grandchildren can still see penguins outside of aquariums: Dion George, the minister of environmental affairs. He has the power to prevent large fishing companies from further depleting the sardine and anchovy stocks near penguin colonies, which is the most serious threat to this iconic species.

We’re waiting on you, Dion – and on a court case between the fishing industry and conservation groups that will be heard in the high court next week.

We’re talking about the African penguin here (formerly called the jackass penguin, because they bray like donkeys). In Afrikaans, they’re known as brilpikkewyne (bespectacled penguins) due to the distinctive markings around their eyes. Their scientific name is Spheniscus demersus, or wedge-shaped divers, and they are found only along the coasts of South Africa and Namibia.

When European explorers landed in southern Africa between the 16th and 18th centuries, there were millions and millions of penguins along the coast and on nearby islands. Researchers estimate that by the mid-1800s, there were still at least 4 million.

Today, only about 10 000 breeding pairs remain. If the current decline continues at the same rate, the last wild African penguin will be extinct by 2035.

© MAX DU PREEZ
© MAX DU PREEZ

As someone born in the Free State and later living in Johannesburg, to me penguins were pictures in books or cute TV characters. Then, on June 23, 2000, the cargo ship MV Treasure sank 10 km off the coast between Robben Island and Dassen Island, spilling close to a thousand tons of oil into the sea.

A cameraman and I rushed to the scene that same day, documenting what would become the largest animal rescue operation ever. More than 19 000 oil-covered penguins were caught and cleaned by SANCCOB (the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds), and another 20,000 were relocated to the Eastern Cape to prevent their contamination. By the time these penguins had swum back to their colonies, the oil had been removed. (Our documentary was broadcast on e.tv, among others.)

SANCCOB still rehabilitates hundreds of injured or oiled penguins and other seabirds every year. Some say that without this organisation, there would already be 20% fewer penguins today. You can visit their website at www.sanccob.co.za.

SANCCOB, the Biodiversity Law Centre, and BirdLife South Africa are now taking the minister of environmental affairs, along with two organisations representing the pelagic fishing industry, to court. The current fishing restrictions are insufficient to protect the penguins’ food sources. The previous minister, Barbara Creecy, had ignored the recommendations of an international panel that investigated the issue, and Dion George has so far upheld her decision.

© MAX DU PREEZ
© MAX DU PREEZ

It was the overfishing of anchovies around Dyer Island in the 1970s that forced penguins to relocate to Boulders Beach, Robben Island, and Betty’s Bay.

The penguins at Boulders are central to tourism in the southern Cape Peninsula. Literally thousands of tourists visit the beach and park, which is managed by South African National Parks (SANParks), every week. Non-South Africans pay R190 per person to access the area and shop, while South Africans pay R45. The influx of tourists sustains three restaurants in the immediate vicinity and dozens of vendors selling souvenirs and African art, mostly migrants from Zimbabwe and other parts of Africa.

Many penguins have also nested in the gardens of nearby homes. While this isn’t ideal, it does mean that predators like caracals, which attack penguins at other colonies, are absent.

© MAX DU PREEZ
© MAX DU PREEZ

Here are a few things you might find interesting about African penguins:

  • Monogamy: Nine out of 10 penguin pairs stay together for life.
  • Same-sex relationships: Researchers estimate that about 30% of penguins are gay. Two male penguins at a zoo in Amersfoort, Netherlands, made headlines worldwide when they stole a couple’s egg and tried to hatch it themselves, then took over a lesbian pair’s nest. Read the article
  • Parental duties: Males and females take turns incubating eggs, which hatch after 40 days.
  • Saltwater drinkers: Penguins drink seawater and expel the salt through glands in their noses.
  • Lifespan: Penguins live between 15 and 25 years.
  • Record dive: The deepest recorded dive by a penguin was 130 m, and it held its breath for 275 seconds – almost five minutes.
  • Unique markings: The black spots on a penguin’s chest are unique to each individual, helping researchers identify them.
  • Temperature regulation: They have pink glands above their eyes that help them stay cool in summer. The darker the pink, the hotter the penguin.
  • Swimming speed: Penguins can swim up to 20 km/h. They swim faster closer to shore to avoid seals that hunt them.
  • Long-distance travel: Breeding pairs swim up to 60 km to find food, while single penguins have been recorded swimming over 100 km at a time.
  • Love for lavender: Penguins are fond of lavender – perhaps to counteract the unpleasant smell of their droppings.

VWB


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