African penguin
| African penguin | ||||||||||
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African penguin ( Spheniscus demersus ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Spheniscus demersus | ||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The African penguin ( Spheniscus demersus ) belongs to the genus of the same name within the family of penguins (Spheniscidae). They are the only penguins in Africa still living in the wild today .
Appearance
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The birds are 60 to 70 cm tall, weigh 2.5 to 3 kg and can reach an age of up to 20 years. The African penguins have a striking black and white coloration. From the black beak to the eyes and around them a pink spot that gave them their German name. The front of the head, crown, chin and cheeks are black like the back. The belly is white, but a narrow, black band goes in a U-shape over the chest and the sides of the body.
Way of life
The African penguins breed in colonies near the coast and lay their eggs in shallow depressions that they scratch out, or they lay their eggs in caves that they pad with pieces of wood and feathers. A clutch consists of two eggs. At the age of three months, the boys change from their down clothes to old age clothes.
Distribution and existence
African penguins live on the west coast of Africa and on the islands from Angola to the penguin islands of Namibia to the east coast of South Africa near Natal and Mozambique .
Around 20,000 (as of 2016) to 25,262 (as of 2010) breeding pairs live in the wild. This means a decrease of 60.5 percent compared to the population of 1979 (69,000) and a decrease of 90 percent compared to 1956 (141,000 breeding pairs). Their stock is endangered mainly because of fishing and is continuously decreasing. The IUCN lists them as "endangered". African penguins are strictly protected in all countries. There are also numerous populations in zoos , the conservation of which is coordinated in an international breeding program.
80 percent of the population is located on only seven islands (population figures 2006; all South Africa unless otherwise stated):
- Dassen Island : 13,283 breeding pairs
- St Croix Island : 8,077
- Robben Island : 3,697
- Bird Island : 2,822
- Dyer Island : 2,076
- Mercury Island (Namibia): 1,813
- Boulder's Beach : 1.075
In 2019, numbers of 26,000 animals were given for Namibia alone. As of 2015, IUCN speaks of 80,000 individual animals.
food
A penguin mainly eats schooling fish, but also hunts crustaceans such as crabs.
gallery
A diving penguin
Albino variant (very rare)
Young animals dry their down clothes
Colony in Boulders
Breeding caves of the African penguins, Boulders Beach (2017)
Skeleton in the Museum of Osteology , Oklahoma City
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literature
- Daniel B. Thomas and Daniel T. Ksepka: A history of shifting fortunes for African penguins. In: Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. Online advance publication of March 6, 2013, doi: 10.1111 / zoj.12024
Web links
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Spheniscus demersus in the Internet Bird Collection
- Video: Spheniscus demersus and Spheniscus humboldti - swimming and diving . Institute for Scientific Film (IWF) 1954, made available by the Technical Information Library (TIB), doi : 10.3203 / IWF / E-12 .
- Spheniscus demersus inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.2. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2013. Retrieved November 23, 2013.
Individual evidence
- ^ Daniel Gilpin: Penguins . 1st edition. Parragon Books Ltd, Cologne, ISBN 978-1-4075-0629-6 , pp. 96 .
- ↑ African penguins look into the tube. Deutsche Welle, July 19, 2016.
- ↑ a b c Spheniscus demersus. IUCN. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
- ↑ African Penguin Spheniscus demersus. BirdLife International. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
- ↑ Bird flu symptoms detected in endangered seabirds. The Namibian, January 31, 2019.