The Residents Association of Dana Bay Conservancy We care about our environment

DANABAAI INWONERSVERENIGING:   Voorsitter,  Marie de Klerk      083 415 6981
DANABAAI BEWAREA:                         Voorsitter, Terry Townsend    084 870 1849
GEMEENSKAPS POLISIE FORUM:        Voorsitter,  Marius Rheeder    072 620 5045
DANABAAI DIENSSENTRUM:   Verteenwoordiger, Marie de Klerk       083 415 6981
                                                                            Daleen Thomson   082 056 1254
BESIGHEIDSFORUM:                          Voorsitter,  Japie Krige            076 682 5846
                                                                                                         044 698 1699

Penguins in our area - an ENDANGERED SPECIES

Normally we don't find penguins in our area, but if we do, they need our help!  They are either very young penguins washed off rocks by high seas and tides or they are ill.  SAPREC is our local Sea Bird and penguin Rehabilitation Center.  Contact Carol Walton at 082 364 3382.  Please pick up the penguin, keep it safe and unmolested to decrease stress and call her immediately. Else, if you are in Dana Bay Conservancy, call our emergency number:  072 802 1176.  Watch out - they do bite!

Penguin Facts (adapted from Wikipedia)

Penguins are a group of aquatic, flightless birds (they are UNABLE to FLY) living almost exclusively in the southern hemisphere, especially in Antarctica. They have counter shaded dark backs and wings and white frontal plumage for camouflage.  Their vestigial wings have become flippers. Their diet consists mainly of fish while swimming underwater, diving to depths of 30m.  They spend about half of their lives on land and half in the oceans.

Within the smooth plumage a layer of air is preserved, ensuring buoyancy. The air layer also helps insulate the birds in cold waters. On land, penguins use their tails and wings to maintain balance for their upright stance.

Penguins have an average sense of hearing for birds; this is used by parents and chicks to locate one another in crowded colonies.  Their eyes are adapted for underwater vision, and are their primary means of locating prey and avoiding predators.

The females fish for food in the cold Antarctic leaving the males to brave the weather by themselves. They often huddle together to keep warm and rotate positions to make sure that each penguin gets a turn in the center of the heat pack.

They can drink salt water because their supraorbital gland filters excess salt from the bloodstream. The salt is excreted in a concentrated fluid from the nasal passages.

The African Penguin is found on the south-western coast of Africa, living in colonies on 24 islands between Namibia and Algoa Bay, near Port Elizabeth, South Africa. It is the only penguin species that breeds in Africa.  It is also widely known as the "Jackass" Penguin for its donkey-like bray.

Two penguin colonies were established in the 1980s on the mainland near Cape Town, namely Boulders Beach near Simon's Town and Stony Point in Betty's Bay. Mainland colonies probably only became possible in recent times due to the reduction of predator numbers.  Penguins are a tourist attraction at Boulders Beach.

Of the 1.5-million African Penguin population estimated in 1910, only some 10% remained at the end of the 20th-century. African penguin populations, have declined by 95% since pre-industrial times.  Probable causes include oil spills, competition with commercial fisheries for food, harvesting of penguin eggs and collecting of guano for fertilizer eliminating the burrowing material used by penguins for nesting. Global climate change is also affecting prey abundance. Penguins remain susceptible to pollution of their habitat by petrochemicals from spills, shipwrecks and cleaning of tankers while at sea.

The African Penguin is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. The African Penguin is listed in the Red Data Book as an endangered species.

Roughly 4 million penguins existed at the beginning of the last century. The total population fell to 200 000 in the year 2000; ten years later, in 2010, the number was estimated to be only at 55000. If this decline is not halted, the African Penguin is expected to be extinct within 15 years.

Things to remember:

Penguins cannot fly!

They need your help!

Contact:  Carol Walton at 082 364 3382 or Dana Bay Conservancy at 072 802 1176

Keep them safe and unmolested till help arrives

Keep dogs AND children away.

They do bite!