A group of 30 young African penguins have waddled off into the sea for their very first great adventure.
South Coast, South Africa (24 June 2026) – The fledglings, each only 100 days old, were released to sea as part of a conservation project led by BirdLife South Africa, SANCCOB and CapeNature.
At this age, they’d naturally be setting off on their first trip out to the great big blue. After enjoying a final ‘free meal’ and a night spent acclimatising on the beach, they set off on the first great adventure, outside of SANCCOB’s care.
They spent a night of finding their happy feet on the beach, and then waddled down to the water and launched off into the ocean.
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The release is part of an ongoing effort to establish a new African penguin breeding colony at De Hoop. The hope is that this group will spend the next few years at sea, then return to the reserve when they’re ready to moult and breed, helping to grow a colony in an area where it’s badly needed.
African penguins are under pressure, and one of the major issues is food. Sardines, their main prey, have shifted further south and east over time, while many of the country’s historic penguin colonies are still concentrated along the west coast. That leaves breeding birds having to work much harder to find food.
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Creating a colony at De Hoop could help change that by adding another breeding site on the south coast and bridging the gap between east and west populations. This could create more resilience for the species overall.
Several groups of hand-reared penguins have already been released at De Hoop since 2021, and now it’s a waiting game. If these birds imprint on the area, they’ll hopefully come back when they’re older!
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