Who's Killing the Penguins?

I've written before about work that I've done with the African Penguin (Spheniscus demersus).

This is the only species of penguin breeding in South Africa and, sadly, its numbers are dropping rapidly. Some of the  known causes of this are the depletion of its food supply, damage from oil spills and loss of breeding habitat. Fur seals are known to predate on penguins at sea but it was sad to hear that something was killing the penguins at the Stony Point colony in Betty's Bay - the only colony in the region that is actually growing.

Most of the carcasses were only partly eaten but it was estimated that, potentially, hundred of birds had died this way. So I offered to install a couple of camera-traps to see if we could identify the culprit.

Most carcasses were located near a thick stand of Rooikrans (Acacia cyclops) which suggested that this would be a good place to start looking. 

There were a couple of well used animal trails leading into the thicket so we installed the cameras a few metres into these trails. It didn't take long before the suspect was 'caught'.............

These aren't great images but they're quite good enough to identify a Caracal (Caracal caracal) as the likely culprit.

The cameras didn't catch much else other than some Rock Hyrax (Procavia capensis)  - who had better also watch out for the Caracal........

......and live penguins that wouldn't be in that thicket if they knew what was good for them:

In hindsight, getting images of the culprit was the easy part. What to do with them is way more tricky. I love the idea that we still have Caracals in coastal villages like Betty's Bay but I accept that ongoing predation of the African Penguin, now classified as endangered in the latest IUCN Red Data list, is a big problem. Translocating the cat (if it can be caught) is a possibility but it has also been suggested that it gets fitted with a tracking collar. The authorities can then monitor its movements and chase it away from the penguins when it gets too close. That's the idea anyway........

African Penguins

The African Penguin (Spheniscus demersus) is endemic to Southern Africa and the only penguin species to nest on our mainland. Vagrants of other species are occasionally seen off our coast but are very rare. Once abundant in the region, African Penguin numbers have declined dramatically and the IUCN now lists the species as Endangered.

The University of Cape Town is very involved with penguin research on Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for years). The island hosts the second largest African Penguin breeding colony and is also an important breeding site for other seabird species. So it was a treat for me to be invited to set up camera-traps on the island. The birds are nesting currently and the aim was to get some insights into their nocturnal movements.

On Robben Island the penguin nests are either shallow depressions under low-hanging vegetation or in artificial nest boxes.

I think penguins are pretty cute.  It's fortunate, for research purposes, that no two individuals are exactly alike. They all have unique spot patterns and many have been fitted with numbered flipper bands over the years.They are curious but nervous of anything unusual in their surroundings which makes for easy camera-trapping opportunities.

Their breeding success is improved if they use the artificial nest boxes but it was pleasing to see both eggs and chicks at many nesting sites.

I'm pleased that I don't have to analyze the many thousands of images that the cameras obtained (Good luck Kate, and thanks!). Instead I'm happy just to smile at these photos of penguins going about their normal business.

For more info on the penguin research being done on Robben Island look at:

 www.penguins.adu.org.za