African Penguin Population Shrinks by 50% Over 30 Years, BusinessDay Says

By Mkhululi Mancotywa - Aug 13, 2010 5:24 AM CT

The population of the native African Penguin has fallen by more than 50 percent over the past 30 years, prompting scientists in South Africa to try to boost their numbers, Johannesburg-based Business Day reported.
The shift of sardines and anchovies, the birds’ main food, away from breeding colonies of penguins on South Africa’s western coast may be to blame for the reduction in the population, the newspaper cited scientists as saying.
“We are really wrestling with the issue,” Les Underhill, director of the University of Cape Town’s animal demography unit said, according to the newspaper. “If we knew exactly what the problem was we could do something about it.”
In the early 1900s, more than 1 million of the birds were found on South Africa’s Dassen Island alone, the paper said. A 1950s census found 150,000 breeding penguins remained, while today there are fewer than 21,000 in the country, it said.

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