Spheniscus demersus
It’s one of the 18 existing species of penguins, the only one that lives in the African continent. Mainly distributed along the coasts of Namibia and South Africa it frequents both the marine environment and the mainland. Even though it’s a bird, it can’t fly, and it particularly adapts to aquatic life due to its tapered and hydrodynamic body, palmed paws and wings, which, not very useful in the marine environment, have lost their functionality turning into fins. Social, gregarious and monogamous, it reproduces in numerous colonies by laying two eggs which are hatched by both parents for about 40 days, until final hatching.
It feeds on pelagic fish such as sardines, anchovies and herrings which it surrounds pushing them to the surface. During the fishing activity it can remain in apnoea for over two minutes diving up to 33 times in an hour.
It’s strongly threatened with extinction due to the reduction of trophic resources, water pollution and accidental spills of oil into the sea. The Bioparco participates in conservation programmes of the species by joining the EEP programme (EAZA Ex-situ Programme).
WHO IS HERE AT THE BIOPARCO?
The Bioparco houses a colony of African penguins coming from the Bristol Zoo and Zoom Torino which reproduced over time starting from the original group. They eat herrings three times a day and sardines twice a week.
