When the LOLs highlight an urgent message about the Cape’s wild species…
Western Cape, South Africa (19 May 2026) – It’s a leopard! It’s a penguin! It’s a tortoise! Oops, it’s only Themba Robin…
The much-loved local comedian has teamed up with CapeNature to create a series of seriously funny videos designed to make you giggle – and to make you feel something more.
“As part of our Wild Western Cape campaign, CapeNature recently developed three fun and impactful videos aimed at reminding people that the Western Cape’s biodiversity is not only unique by nature, but truly irreplaceable if lost – and something we all need to help protect,” says CapeNature representative Luke Folb.
“Through humour and storytelling, we wanted to create content that people would genuinely enjoy watching and sharing, while still carrying an important conservation message.”
The campaign shines the light on three species of the Cape that are under serious threat. Each video imagines a world where they no longer exist at all.
“The videos play on the absurdity of needing humans in animal suits to represent species that no longer exist in the wild – humorous on the surface, but ultimately designed to be thought-provoking. The message is simple yet serious – extinction is not a punchline,” says Folb.
Luke tells us that leopards of the Cape have some of the lowest density in the country, with less than two leopards per 100 square kilometres and home ranges up to ten times larger than those of their savanna counterparts.
Similarly, African penguin numbers have plummeted by 97% over the last 100 years, with fewer than 9,000 breeding pairs left in the wild. Organisations like SANCCOB work tirelessly to combat those numbers, but the threat still remains.
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Tim Steyn Named Landscape Designer of the Year!The geometric tortoise is at risk of disappearing, too. It is one of the world’s most endangered tortoises, fewer than 3,000 individuals remain, confined to a tiny stretch of renosterveld in the Western Cape that has lost more than 90% of its original habitat to agriculture.
These are serious reflections. And yet, a man in penguin suit might be what it takes to make you actually feel them.
“Together with Themba Robin, whose comedy genius brought a brilliantly quirky and relatable energy to the campaign, we explored the idea of what a future without these animals could look like,” says Folb.
Research shows that humour makes us more open to messages we might otherwise scroll past or tune out. Laughter creates a moment of connection, and in that moment, the message sticks. Comedy is one of the most powerful tools for social commentary.
You laugh first. Then you think. Then, if it’s done well, you care.
Keep an eye out for the third instalment of the series on CapeNature’s socials (Instagram and Facebook) later this week.
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