I’m still editing photos from my recent trip to South Africa.  In the meantime please enjoy this little guy from the African penguin colony at Boulders Beach.

This sheltered penguin colony, located between Simon’s Town and Cape Point, was started in 1982 with just two breeding pairs.  The African penguin is listed in the Red Data Book as an endangered species.  They were previously called Jackass Penguin because of their donkey-like braying call.  Some South American penguins also produce the same sound so they were renamed African penguins.  According to the park’s brochure,

“Of the 1.5 million African penguin population estimated in 1910, only some 10% remained at the end of the 20th century.  The uncontrolled harvesting of penguin eggs (as a source of food), and guano scraping, nearly drove the species to extinction.”

endangered penguin colony Renel In South Africa 2014 Spheniscus demersus