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55-65 cm, 2.9-3.5 kg. With the exception of moulting vagrants of other species, the only penguin occurring on the African mainland. Adults are black above with mostly white below with a broad black breast-band with unique spot patterns on the breast and belly. The face is black with a patch of naked pink skin above the eye. Juveniles are initially blue-grey above and paler below, becoming brown in their second and third years (Crawford and Whittington 2005).
African Penguins forage for small pelagic fish in inshore waters, usually within 15 km of the coast and can travel up to 50 km from colonies while breeding (Petersen et al. 2006, Pichegru et al. 2010). Outside of the breeding season, they can move further offshore, especially when foraging on the Agulhas Bank off the south coast of South Africa (BirdLife South Africa, unpubl. data, Crawford et al. 2008). Juveniles are typically far-ranging and can move up to 1 800 km from their natal colony, although they tend to recruit to natal colonies. However, juveniles may recruit away from their natal colonies, a phenomenon believed to be linked to prey availability during prospecting for recruitment sites (Crawford and Whittington 2005). Adults tend to remain within 400 km of their breeding islands (BirdLife South Africa, unpubl. data, Randall et al. 1987). The species breeds and moults on coastal islands and protected mainland sites (Crawford et al. 2011). Breeding colonies are usually flat and sandy with varying degrees of vegetation cover although birds can also breed at steep, rocky sites (e.g. St Croix Island). They breed colonially and year-round, although there are clearly defined peaks, usually in winter (Crawford and Whittington 2005). The generation time of 9.3 years was based on an estimate of mean age at first breeding and a published estimate of mean annual survival (BirdLife International 2014).
SANBI is currently in the process of adding more information about species to this database.
