African penguins may face total extinction by 2036 — expert

PRETORIA, December 1. /TASS/. Serious decline in the number of African penguins’ breeding pairs threatens the species with total extinction by 2036, BirdLife South Africa’s Communications Manager Kurt Martin told TASS.
“The African penguin, which is endemic to the southern and southwestern African continent, is in great danger,” the official representative of the South African non-governmental environmental organization said. “The number of breeding pairs is now less than 10,000. It is estimated that African penguins will be completely extinct by 2036,” he pointed out.
The number of African penguins decreased by 97% over the last hundred years. In November 2024, the International Union for Conservation of Nature reclassified the species as critically endangered on its Red List.
Illegal commercial fishing off the coasts of South Africa and Namibia is a major cause of the African penguin’s steep decline. “The penguins simply don’t have enough food to survive,” Martin said, noting that “the global community should step up to prevent the extinction of this penguin species.”
In the spring of 2024, BirdLife South Africa initiated legal proceedings against local authorities to reduce commercial fishing in areas where the penguins feed.
African penguins are much smaller than Antarctic penguins. An adult grows up to 70 centimeters (28 inches) and weighs 2.2-3.5 kilograms. African penguins can swim up to 120 kilometers (75 miles) to find food, mainly fish such as anchovies, sardines and herring. The lifespan of an African penguin is about 10 years. Their main enemies are sharks, large monkeys, seals and seagulls, which attack baby penguins.