Cape of Good Hope and African penguins. African penguins Interesting facts about African penguins

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.

Penguins are the most unusual inhabitants Africa. They bask on the Cape Town sand, sunbathe, hunt anchovies in the ocean and entertain tourists. Travelers are ready to pay dearly for successful shots of birds.

01. Initially, the combination of the words “penguins” and “Africa” caused cognitive dissonance in my head. I remembered plots from the cycle "In the animal world". In them, these cute creatures dived like a fish from huge ice floes and added black shades to the snowy expanses of Antarctica.

However, their habitation in South Africa is understandable and logical: the Cape Peninsula is washed by the cold Benguela Current. In it, penguins feel like a fish in water. A similar situation on Galapagos Islands. Thanks to the Humboldt current waterfowl feel at home and at the equator.

02. After the excursion to the Cape of Good Hope, the guide took our group to the habitat of the penguins. They live in a large colony of three thousand on the southern coast of Africa. Local businessmen make a good profit from the settlement by selling a photo session with wonderful birds to tourists.

03. African penguins live in Cape Town, which are also called donkeys - for the similarity of their voices with the cries of a stubborn pack horse. By the way, penguins also appreciate a beautiful tan. :-)

04. Tourists who paid a fine got to a small observation deck, behind which penguins hung out. We found another way and managed to catch sea ​​birds in their natural environment. To do this, it was necessary to walk only 200 meters to the barrier. It was guarded by a local dark-skinned security guard, who quite easily let us into the reserve.

05. African penguins listed in the International Red Book. Now their population is only 26 thousand individuals, although back in the early 20th century the number of birds varied at the level of two million. The extinction of the species is due to several reasons. One of the main ones is the gastronomic value of penguin eggs. People who love delicacies take the lives of thousands of unhatched cubs.

University of Bristol specialist Peter Barham sees other explanations for the population decline. In particular, a decrease in the amount of food resources due to the high fishing of sardines and anchovies. Other negatives include oil tanker accidents that pollute the water, and fur seals that love to hunt penguins.

06. When the guys and I approached the penguins, they opened their eyes, indifferently assessed us and continued to bask in the sun.

07. African penguins have a standard tail coat coloration: the back is dark, the front is light. Their individual feature is a black stripe that crosses the chest and goes down the sides.

08. The average height of African penguins is 65 centimeters.

09. Chicks are covered with brownish-gray down, which later acquires a bluish tint. They look solid and menacing. Especially because of the beak, which has a bunch of harpoon teeth that allow you to grab dead fish grip.

10. Changed the angle - and our hero became a cutie. Well, almost cute. :-)

11. Rocky shores and sheltered bays = luxury penguin apartments.

13. Penguin partisan sitting in ambush.

14. Penguin model. He likes to pose from different angles, is not grumbling, willingly changes positions and makes contact with people. An ideal hero for portraits, which Dima, Maxim and Petya will confirm.

15. Neighbor duck. Unfortunately, my ornithological knowledge is insufficient to issue information about her. Maybe you can tell?

16. Mi-mi-mi:

17. Penguins eat small fish, krill, shrimp and shellfish, hunting prey at speeds up to 20 km. in hour.

18. We were all waiting for our next hero to go for food into the water, but every time he changed his mind at the last moment, testing our patience. Here's the little bastard!

19. A colorful trio moving with the gait of Charlie Chaplin. :-)

20. D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers. :-)

To be continued…
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Log walk:

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.

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.

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.

I don't like cities. I don't like houses, asphalt, cars, monuments, museums. I don't like buses, subways, gas stations, rails, exhaust fumes. But I'm just in love with one city!

If I could choose which city to be born in, then without a doubt I would choose Cape Town! The ocean, mountains, fur seals, sharks, whales, ostriches, penguins - the nature in the city and its environs is simply amazing! That is why tickets for January have already been bought for a long time - we are going to Cape Town again, we are going to South Africa again!

Penguins in Africa. For many, this is a revelation. But there is nothing surprising in this. The Cape Peninsula is washed by the cold Antarctic Benguela Current. Therefore, the penguins feel quite comfortable here. For the same reason, penguins can also be found at the equator in the Galapagos Islands - the Humboldt Current helps them feel at home there.

A large colony of African penguins can be found on Boulders Beach in Cape Town, where we went in the first place!

Birds are sociable, let them get close enough.

Distinctive feature African penguins is black line on his chest and a set of black spots as unique as a human fingerprint.

Penguins feel at home on the beach.

Some video from the beach. Bonus at the end fur seal relaxing in coastal waves.