Penguins in South Africa from where. African penguins: species description, habitat, interesting facts. Under the protection of the Red Book

Penguin - strange bird. The sly-assed African penguin (that's their slang name, like prankster penguins) is even more fun. First, the fact that he lives in Africa.

So, imagine: the heat, the sun, you are walking so handsome in black glasses and a cap ... And then - once! - a penguin flies under your feet. More precisely, jumping down the stairs. Because he knows how to climb it, because the steps exactly correspond to the height of his jump. He jumped and now wants to eat.

- These penguins are evil, - says the driver, - we once sat on the beach with a girl. While it was warm, the penguins lay and trudged. Then a cloud came, and the shadow lay exactly on them. They got worried, got out of the sand and jumped towards us. Half an hour later, we were surrounded by a crowd of penguins with faces like football fans after losing to an unloved team. So, we left. Survived miraculously.

What did they even forget in Africa? Nothing, they are comfortable there. From the side Atlantic Ocean a cold current comes, where they enjoy fishing. Sharks hardly touch them, because the penguin instinctively swims where it is cold. A shark is dumb to swim where it's cold.

They breed slowly because they are specifically monogamous. If the couple develops, then the penguins will be with each other for life. Once a year there will be an egg, which they will take turns incubating. I saw how the father chick straightened the blades of grass to the mother chick: at first he carefully put one protruding one, then he brought another new one and laid it down very slowly. Birds don't move that slowly, but this one must have been extremely careful.

If one of the penguins dies, the second one will not get along with anyone. Therefore, cats that eat penguins that have climbed into the city cause severe damage to the population.

Chicks are such cool Chewbaccas. They are born small, then grow brown until they recover and become a normal color.

Baby penguins:

Penguins live in nests. They dig nests under the grass to poke there. Ecologists put half-buried barrels for them - even the most stupid and lazy penguin realizes that you can crawl there to regulate temperature.

Penguins are cool. They float like a fan. They are supposed to fly, but they swim instead. It turned out that the design of the bird, with some upgrades, is also suitable for a submarine. In general, here it is, this whim of nature.

And some penguins from Antarctica sometimes sail to Africa. They bask, bury themselves in the sand, sunbathe, run away ... and swim back if they suddenly want to. Damn downshifters.

African boy chasing a penguin:

These birds live in pairs:

Penguin nest:

Completely fucked up birds:

But they feel good here in Africa:

Very well:

In general, take care of the penguins. They are cool.

African penguins are amazing view penguins, which lives on the southern and southwestern coasts of Africa and on islands located near these places. On two of them, the largest African penguin colonies currently exist - these are the islands of Dessen and Robben. As already mentioned in general characteristics penguins, even low latitudes they settle near cool sea ​​waters. In this case, these African coasts and islands are washed by the cold Benguela Current. Here, in wind-protected bays on rocky shores, birds arrange nesting colonies.

Own strange name African penguin is a donkey. His penguins of this species received for the similarity of their sharp, very loud cry with the howls of a donkey. Therefore, being near a colony of these birds is not very pleasant. However, later it turned out that some other relatives of the African penguin have the same extravagant voice. And to avoid confusion, I had to come up with a new name for it, but this species still often called in the old way.

The African penguin has the same “tailcoat” coloring characteristic of all penguins: a dark back and a light bottom. But its side is characterized by some individual details that distinguish it from other species. A light chest is crossed by a black stripe, which then descends down the sides of the body. Above the eyes on both sides of the head, going around the back of the head, goes white stripe. In size, this is a medium-sized species. The height of the tallest known individual was 86 cm, but the most common birds are 60-61 cm tall.

feed on African penguins mostly small fish, krill, shrimp, shellfish. For their prey, they try not to swim far from the coast, and yet groups of birds soaring under can be found at a distance of more than 12 km from the nearest one.

For the nest, they make a small hole where they lay a single egg. They can breed almost all the time, but the largest peak is observed from May to June. Adult penguins feed babies by bringing food in the esophagus. The only thing left for the chicks is to stick their head down the throat of the parent or wait for him to burp the next portion.

In former times (XV-XVI centuries), spectacled penguins organized grandiose colonies. Portuguese travelers described them as multimillion-dollar. Currently, the largest colonies consist of about 60,000 individuals. What happened to this once abundant species?

It all started with the active hunting of a spectacled penguin for meat and fat. Although penguin meat has a peculiar taste and toughness, sailors did not disdain to eat it during their distant wanderings. Fat was even more valued. Then they tasted that the eggs of these birds are of excellent quality and taste, and began to collect them. African residents they also never refused easily accessible, high-calorie food, collecting thousands of penguin eggs during the nesting period.

And now remember that female African penguins lay only one egg each. Their constant removal inevitably leads to the decline of the colony, especially since the mortality of chicks remains very high. The worst thing is that this practice continues to this day, leading to great devastation in the populations.

Except eggs locals they also caught the penguins themselves. They learned to make beautiful rugs, blankets, bedspreads from their skins, which also adversely affected the state of coastal colonies.

Later, another devastating factor fell upon the unfortunate birds: the extraction of guano. At one time, this fertilizer enriched many people, but in this case, this process was due to the destruction of centuries-old colonies of spectacled penguins. The rich reserves of guano in the nesting territories of these birds did not hide from the greedy eyes of entrepreneurs, and they tried to start mining fertilizer from these sites as quickly and efficiently as possible. They didn't care at all further fate spectacled penguin, because there were so many birds. As a result, there was a massive destruction of tribal colonies, which led to a sharp decrease in the number of individuals in populations.

And then came the twenty-first century. It would seem that the barbaric attitude towards penguins should have been left far behind. But it was not there. The total number of penguins now does not exceed 150 thousand individuals, and the demand for their eggs does not fall. During the nesting period, large devastation of spectacled penguin colonies constantly occurs.

And yet this is not the end of the enumeration of all the misfortunes that have befallen these birds. New times have brought new calamities. Tanker accidents near the shores and islands where penguin colonies are located have turned into a real ecological disaster for the latter. After all, spilled, covering the surrounding sea with a film, it also falls on the plumage sea ​​birds(not just penguins), causing them to lose their ability to fly and swim.

As a result of one such accident, which occurred on June 22, 1994 off the coast of South Africa, at least thirty percent of all birds living there were doomed to starvation in island penguin colonies. Fortunately, people came to the aid of the dying penguins. Money was allocated for the creation of rehabilitation centers for birds, in which volunteers worked around the clock. Uninjured individuals had to be immediately evacuated to safe place, since the sea continued to bring new portions of oil to the shores. In the first place, the victims were washed off the oil film with special solutions, but after this procedure, the penguins remained completely helpless for another week. The fact is that along with the oil, the grease was washed off the feather cover, which prevents the feather from getting wet. It took her so long to recover.

Then there is another problem: after the stress, the penguins refused to eat on their own, and in fact in vivo they eat only freshly caught food, they do not recognize anything else. And what? They had to be force-fed.

Of course, not all birds were saved, but the efforts of the volunteers were not in vain. Spectacled penguin colonies were saved this time. Now the main task of people remains their preservation, because who knows what other surprises this century will bring us.

The African penguin, Spheniscus demersus, is also called the Blackfoot penguin. This penguin was found off the coast South Africa. African penguins can swim at a speed of approximately 4.3 to 15 miles per hour (7-24 km/h) and make sounds similar to donkeys.

Such birds are not found anywhere else in the world, except that the Galapagos penguins live in hotter latitudes. The answer, however, is quite simple: penguins in Africa settle along the coast that washes the cold Benguela Current. arctic inhabitants therefore, they feel good in the very south of Africa.

African penguins are generally similar to their Arctic counterparts: the same black and white camouflage coloration, the same touching loyalty for life in married couple. African penguins, like others, take turns hatching chicks, and while one is on the perch, the other gets food in the sea. They also share the care of the growing offspring in half.

African penguins are distinguished by a black stripe on the chest in the shape of a horseshoe, and more spots, which, it has been established, are as individual for each African penguin as fingerprints are for humans. The African penguin is sometimes also called the donkey. But this in no way refers to the mind or character of the penguin - the birds are both smart and good-natured. Only now the voice, alas, of the African penguin, is completely dissonant and resembles a donkey.

Living in warm latitudes close to humans has made the African penguin a sociable bird. The colony on Boulders Beach, in fact, made this beach famous. Tourists come here to see penguins in Africa with their own eyes. But the penguins also seem to enjoy interacting with tourists. Birds are close, less than a meter can let a person close to them. And as soon as he turns away, curious creatures explore human things, maybe they will take away something as a keepsake, leave behind sand torn apart next to the sunbed and, satisfied, leave.

P.S.

Diet: African penguins are carnivores (meat eaters) that hunt in the sea. They eat fish (including sardines and anchovies) and squid.

Reproduction: African penguin nests hide in guano and sand. Female penguins lay two eggs each. Incubation period lasts from 38 to 42 days. Both parents guard the nest in turn and feed on what the other brings. These penguins reach maturity at 3 to 4 years of age.

Colonies: African penguin colonies are rapidly declining due to many factors including: reduction in their natural food supply (overfishing), water pollution from oil tankers, human harvesting of eggs, disease.

The African penguin, Spheniscus demersus, is also called the Blackfoot penguin. This penguin was found off the coast of South Africa. African penguins can swim at a speed of approximately 4.3 to 15 miles per hour (7-24 km/h) and make sounds similar to donkeys.

Such birds are not found anywhere else in the world, except that the Galapagos penguins live in hotter latitudes. The answer, however, is quite simple: penguins in Africa settle along the coast that washes the cold Benguela Current. Arctic residents therefore feel good in the very south of Africa.

African penguins are generally similar to their Arctic counterparts: the same black and white camouflage coloration, the same touching fidelity for life in a married couple. African penguins, like others, take turns hatching chicks, and while one is on the perch, the other gets food in the sea. They also share the care of the growing offspring in half.

African penguins are distinguished by a black stripe on the chest in the shape of a horseshoe, and more spots, which, it has been established, are as individual for each African penguin as fingerprints are for humans. The African penguin is sometimes also called the donkey. But this in no way refers to the mind or character of the penguin - the birds are both smart and good-natured. Only now the voice, alas, of the African penguin, is completely dissonant and resembles a donkey.

Living in warm latitudes close to humans has made the African penguin a sociable bird. The colony on Boulders Beach, in fact, made this beach famous. Tourists come here to see penguins in Africa with their own eyes. But the penguins also seem to enjoy interacting with tourists. Birds are close, less than a meter can let a person close to them. And as soon as he turns away, curious creatures explore human things, maybe they will take away something as a keepsake, leave behind sand torn apart next to the sunbed and, satisfied, leave.

Colonies: African penguin colonies are rapidly declining due to many factors including: reduction in their natural food supply (overfishing), water pollution from oil tankers, human harvesting of eggs, disease.

Everyone knows that penguins live in Antarctica, on nearby islands and in temperate latitudes southern hemisphere. All right. In addition, penguins can be found on the coast South America, Australia, New Zealand and even in Africa. Yes, just one of 18 lives in Africa known to science species of these flightless birds, called the African (or spectacled) penguin.

It seems incredible, but today in Africa there are about 150,000 penguins who feel quite comfortable here. Their habitat includes the southern coast of Africa: South Africa and Namibia. They can also be found on nearby islands.

It is this part of Africa that is washed by the cold current, which ensures the prosperity of the penguins. Penguins are known to feed on fish, so their entire existence is inextricably linked to the sea. The cold Benguela Current is saturated with oxygen and therefore rich in aquatic life. Flowing along the southwestern tip of Africa, it provides stable food resources for spectacled penguins, which live only in this region of the continent.

Spectacled penguins not the largest members of their family. Their weight ranges from 3 to 5 kilograms, and their height is about 70 centimeters. The males are somewhat larger than the females. The life span of these birds is about 10-12 years. The voice of African penguins resembles the cry of a donkey, which is why they are also called donkey penguins. The colonies of these African birds located on rocky shores or at sandy beaches.

Today, these penguins are listed in the International Red Book and the Red Book of South Africa as an endangered species. This was done because of the catastrophic decline in their numbers from 2 million individuals to 150 thousand over the past century. This happened, as usual on our planet, through the fault of people who collected penguin eggs in large quantities. Other important factor that influenced the number of penguins was the reduction of their original habitats: the coastline is actively populated by people.

Today, a number of measures have been introduced to protect this unique look. Not the last role in this was played by tourists visiting South Africa. The fact is that foreigners are always happy to be on the coast, where African penguins live. Friendly families of penguins on sandy beaches are quite an exotic sight. Therefore, trips to such areas are included in most tours of the Republic of South Africa.