African penguin
Spheniscus demersus
Boardwalk colonies and braying calls are unforgettable. Give nesting and moulting birds a clear path to the sea, and remember that sightings are never guaranteed.
Critically Endangered (IUCN, 2024) means it is at extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
Photos show the species, not always the places on this page.
Length
About 60 to 70 cm (2 to 2.3 ft) tall
Weight
Usually about 2.2 to 3.5 kg (4.9 to 7.7 lb); published range about 2.1 to 3.7 kg (4.6 to 8.2 lb)
Next to a person
Stands about knee-high to mid-thigh-high on an adult, and weighs about as much as a large house cat
What it eats
Small schooling fish, mainly sardines and anchovies, plus other small fish, squid and, rarely, crustaceans when fish are scarce.
Around people
Defensive if pressured
How it lives
African penguins hunt small shoaling fish at sea and breed in colonies, where they recognise each other by their individual calls. Pairs usually lay one or two eggs, which both parents incubate for 38 to 41 days, and the chicks fledge at 70 to 80 days. Once a year the birds moult: they stay ashore for about 18 days without feeding while new feathers grow.
Where it goes
African penguins are largely resident and faithful to their colonies. While breeding, they usually feed within a few tens of kilometres of the colony. Outside the breeding season they can travel farther, but there is no single migration route.
We only draw a journey on the map when scientists have tracked it or clearly documented it. For this animal we have not found one yet.
Populations
African penguins breed only in Namibia and South Africa, in the Western Cape and in the Eastern Cape around Algoa Bay. Eastern Cape colonies have fallen fastest recently, while declines in the Western Cape have slowed. In 2023, Namibia held about 1,200 of about 9,900 pairs.
Meet it respectfully
At Boulders in Table Mountain National Park, stay on the boardwalks, and city signage asks you to keep about 3 m from the penguins. Never touch, feed, chase or crowd them, and never block their paths to the sea; they can bite if they feel threatened. Moulting birds, often from November to January, are under extra stress, so give them more space. In Namibia most colonies are on protected islands where landing needs a permit, so birds are watched from a boat.
Fun fact
Tap the bulb to light it up.
Their loud, donkey-like bray gave them the old name jackass penguin.
In 2024 the African penguin became the first penguin species to be listed as Critically Endangered.
It is the only penguin that breeds in Africa, and most of its colonies are on islands.
African penguins have a patch of bare skin above each eye. When a penguin gets hot, more blood flows there and is cooled by the air.
Each African penguin has its own pattern of small dark spots on its white chest, as individual as a human fingerprint.
African penguin in the Ocean Atlas
Places we have researched where this animal is recorded. It is never guaranteed, and some places are for watching from the boat only.
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Namibia
South Africa
United StatesRead more about the african penguin
Sources for this page
- IUCN Red List, 2024
- BirdLife International, 2024
- SANCCOB, 2024
- Sherley et al., 2024
- SANBI, African penguin
- San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, 2026
- SANParks, 2026
- Cape Town Tourism, Boulders Beach penguins
Facts checked 26 September 2026. Photos: Unsplash licence, or Creative Commons as shown on each photo.
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