10 Facts about African Penguins

Thursday, November 27th 2014. | Animals


If you want to know the penguins which live in Africa, you need to check out Facts about African Penguins. Many people think that penguins can only be seen in the cold Polar Regions. When you are in Africa, the hottest continent in the world, you can meet the African penguins.   You can sport the colonies of African penguins at Waterfront or Betty’s Bay. Here are the interesting facts about African penguins:

Facts about African Penguins 1: the name

There are several names that you can use to call African penguins.  The Latin name is Spheniscus demersus. You can also call them Blackfoot penguins or Jackass penguins.

Facts about African Penguins 2: height and weight

The weight of these animals is around 2.4 till 3.6 kilogram. The male African penguins are bigger compared to the female ones.  In average, their height is 60 cm.

African Penguin Facts

African Penguin Facts

Facts about African Penguins 3: diet

The favorite foods of African penguins include herrings, sardines, pilchards, anchovies and mackerel.  When the fish is scarce, they will hunt shellfish and squid.

Facts about African Penguins 4: diving

In average, the African penguins can hold the breath for 2.5 minutes. They can dive underwater up to 130 meter depth. In average, they will dive at the depth at 30 meters.

African Penguin Images

African Penguin Images

Facts about African Penguins 5: the life span

Can you guess the life span of African penguins? They can live up to 10 years. Check out facts about African wildlife here.

Facts about African Penguins 6: the swimming speed

African penguins are bird, but they cannot fly. They are able to swim and dive underwater.  In average, they have the swimming speed at 7 km per hour.  When the penguins hunt for food, they will increase the swimming speed up to 20 km per hour.

African Penguin Pictures

African Penguin Pictures

Facts about African Penguins 7: breeding time

The African penguins can breed when they are four years old. They can produce two eggs.   The eggs will be placed in a sand or guano as the nest. The incubation duty is shared between the male and female penguins.  It takes 38 till 42 days to incubate the eggs.

Facts about African Penguins 8: habitat

You can find African penguins in the coast along Port Elizabeth and Namibia. If you want to know a wild animal in Africa, check out facts about African lions here.

African Penguin

African Penguin

Facts about African Penguins 9: warm climate

The African penguins are very unique because they choose to live in the warm climate rather than selecting the snow and ice environment.

Facts about African Penguins 10: features

The body of African penguins is equipped with webbed feet and flare like wings to navigate in the water.

Facts about African Penguins

Facts about African Penguins

Are you fascinated reading facts about African penguins?


tags: ,