08-17-2014
There is growing concern over the decline in the African
Penguin population, with experts saying that the species could be
extinct within the next 10 years. As a conservation strategy, several organizations along the Southern African Coast are building artificial nests for the birds.
The first two African Penguins arrived at Boulders Beach, on the
Atlantic Ocean, in 1982. They bred successfully the following year. And
in 2005, there were nearly 4,000 of them in the colony. But their
numbers dropped dramatically in the past decade, and there are now
around 3,000. "Historically, there were about two million breeding pairs around our
Southern African coastline. At the moment there’s 19,000 to 21,000
breeding pairs remaining, which is round about one per cent of the
population existing,” conservationist Justin Buchman said. "That trend in its current decline could lead to the extinction of
the African Penguin in the wild in the next 10 years if we don’t put
adequate conservation measures in place to arrest the decline. As an
aspect of the ecosystem, these African Penguins play an incredibly
important role. And as conservation managers, we need to ensure their
survival."
"We take it very seriously that we have a species on our doorstep that is approaching extinction. So we’ll do whatever it takes. We protect the birds at times when the environment gets extreme high heat or cold weather. Obviously, we have marine accidents where the birds sometimes get covered in oil, and they can die," Table Mountain National Park Manager Paddy Golding said.
Major threats to African Penguins are marine oil pollution and a decrease in food supply from the ocean, such as pilchards, sardines and anchovies. Wildlife experts concerned about the dwindling numbers of this species are doing everything in their power to improve their breeding success rate.
That includes providing the penguins with specially designed nesting boxes in which they can burrow, incubate their eggs and protect their chicks from predators and harsh environmental conditions.
Conservation authorities decided to introduce the artificial nest boxes about five years ago to try to stop the decline of the African Penguin population along the Southern African Coastline. "A percentage of the population of African Penguins nests simply on the ground. So they’ll have have a bit of an impression on the ground," Buchman said. "They’ll gather plant material around and they’ll create an open nest. Other penguins for whatever reason we don’t understand simply burrow. The idea of The initial boxes were just concrete pipes in the ground or bits of planking put together. We’ve now got to the stage where we’ve got a glass fiber mold which we’re testing. It hasn’t proven to be too successful. But we’re trying to find out the reasons why and improve that design, to ensure that we have a far greater nesting success. And that the penguins use far more of them."
"The penguin as we know it is really an amazing animal because it has to live on land and in the ocean. So they are almost a magical species for people to be able to see. And to get to see them this close is really a special privilege. As a conservationist, to be responsible for a population that’s really in decline, a population that’s chosen by its own design to be this close to us, its an amazing privilege. And we’ll do our best to protect them," Golding said.
Boulders Beach has become a major tourist attraction near Cape Town, with more than 600,000 visitors flocking there annually to get as close as possible to the birds without disturbing their natural habitat.
"We take it very seriously that we have a species on our doorstep that is approaching extinction. So we’ll do whatever it takes. We protect the birds at times when the environment gets extreme high heat or cold weather. Obviously, we have marine accidents where the birds sometimes get covered in oil, and they can die," Table Mountain National Park Manager Paddy Golding said.
Major threats to African Penguins are marine oil pollution and a decrease in food supply from the ocean, such as pilchards, sardines and anchovies. Wildlife experts concerned about the dwindling numbers of this species are doing everything in their power to improve their breeding success rate.
That includes providing the penguins with specially designed nesting boxes in which they can burrow, incubate their eggs and protect their chicks from predators and harsh environmental conditions.
Conservation authorities decided to introduce the artificial nest boxes about five years ago to try to stop the decline of the African Penguin population along the Southern African Coastline. "A percentage of the population of African Penguins nests simply on the ground. So they’ll have have a bit of an impression on the ground," Buchman said. "They’ll gather plant material around and they’ll create an open nest. Other penguins for whatever reason we don’t understand simply burrow. The idea of The initial boxes were just concrete pipes in the ground or bits of planking put together. We’ve now got to the stage where we’ve got a glass fiber mold which we’re testing. It hasn’t proven to be too successful. But we’re trying to find out the reasons why and improve that design, to ensure that we have a far greater nesting success. And that the penguins use far more of them."
"The penguin as we know it is really an amazing animal because it has to live on land and in the ocean. So they are almost a magical species for people to be able to see. And to get to see them this close is really a special privilege. As a conservationist, to be responsible for a population that’s really in decline, a population that’s chosen by its own design to be this close to us, its an amazing privilege. And we’ll do our best to protect them," Golding said.
Boulders Beach has become a major tourist attraction near Cape Town, with more than 600,000 visitors flocking there annually to get as close as possible to the birds without disturbing their natural habitat.
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