All of the penguins in the Academy’s exhibit are captive hatched, some are even seventh generation.  The Academy has had 108 chicks hatch out since 1983.  These birds stay either at our facility or move to another as part of a cooperative breeding program (see Species Survival Plan blog).  The photo is of Dunker and Safara at 4 weeks old.  They are now juveniles and are on exhibit.  Dunker is the penguin that looks like he has a small bald patch on his lower back, he has an orange wing band on his right wing and a white band on his left wing.  He sustained an injury when he was young and the feathers grow less densely in this patch.  Once he molts (which is due soon) he will replace those feathers and look the same as the rest of the adults.

Pierre the Penguin is doing very well and no longer needs to wear a wetsuit (if you don’t know his story, see the link on this web page or search online for “Pierre the Penguin”).  He has claimed a nest with his mate Homey.  African penguins form very strong bonds and mate for life.  Pierre and Homey live in the nest farthest away from the Wide View web cam.  They have the blue wing bands.  Pierre is banded on his right wing and Homey on her left wing.  Together they are exploring the new exhibit, resting in their new territory and spending most of their day cleaning each others feathers.

“Brenton” hatched on 25 October 2007 and is celebrating his first birthday today!  To identify him on camera he has an orange wing band on his right wing and a gold wing band on his left wing.   He was named as part of our website contest allowing participants to vote, with the most votes determining the name.  Brenton is also the name of an island off of the coast of South Africa.  This is one of the 24 islands and 3 mainland sites that the African penguin inhabits.  In 1994 there were 99 adult African penguins that lived on Brenton Island.

The Academy is a member of the African penguin Species Survival Plan (SSP).  We are one of 45 institutions that participate in this important population management program.  All institutions work together in order to maintain the most diverse gene pool possible.  This allows the participating members to transfer penguins around North America.  The Academy has reared many chicks that have been sent to mature and breed at other facilities.  This is Domino at the age of 29 days, he will eventually be a part of this important breeding program, hopefully contributing his genes to many chicks of his own.

The California Academy of Sciences houses 20 African penguins.  The youngest “Brenton” hatched on 25 October 2007 and the oldest “Pierre” hatched on 16 February 1983.  Adults look very different from young (juvenile) penguins.  Adults have white stripes on the side of their heads and a black stripe across their chest.  Juveniles have dark grey heads and do not get their adult feathers until they are about 18-20 months old.  The photo above is of 8 juvenile penguins and 1 adult penguin (lower right side of photo).