Endangered Penguins Hit by Severe Food Shortage

Endangered African penguins along South Africa’s western coast have suffered dramatic population losses, with researchers pointing to prolonged food shortages as the primary cause.

A new study by scientists from the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment and the University of Exeter reports that about 95 percent of penguins that bred in 2004 at two major colonies: Dassen Island and Robben Island died within eight years.

The findings, published in Ostrich: Journal of African Ornithology, link the mortality event to a collapse in sardine populations, the penguins’ main prey.

Sardine stocks off western South Africa remained below 25 percent of their historic maximum between 2004 and 2011, creating severe nutritional stress for breeding birds.

Researchers estimate that the shortage led to the loss of roughly 62,000 breeding individuals during that period.

Environmental changes, including shifts in seawater temperature and salinity, reduced sardine spawning along the coast, further limiting food availability.

Population counts showed that in the early 2000s Dassen Island hosted about 25,000 breeding pairs, while Robben Island supported around 9,000 pairs.

The global population of African penguins has dropped by nearly 80 percent over the past three decades, and the species was classified as “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2024. (Xinhua)