A South African Penguin Rescue Organization Needed Help—Aquarium Staff Answered the Call

What’s happening to African penguins in the wild?

In their native habitat along the South African and Namibian coasts, African penguins have been facing a steep and continuous decline. Facing pressures from overfishing of their food sources, climate change, and pollution, the species is predicted to be functionally extinct in the wild by 2035.

At SANCCOB, staff and volunteers work year-round to rescue and rehabilitate wild birds, supporting wild colonies to reverse their decline.

Jumping into an African penguin nursery

Diana was the third Aquarium staff member to travel to SANCCOB in recent years—though she was the first to lend her expertise caring for egg and chicks at SANCCOB’s new nursery facility.

“I have a lot of experience working with penguins in ten different species,” Diana said. “A lot of that has been incubation and hand-rearing, so it was kind of a perfect fit.”

Since January 1 of 2026, SANCCOB has taken in little over 500 eggs, which come to their nursery from nests that are deemed abandoned or if a nesting adult needs rescue and is unable to care for their chick. With so many eggs, there were hundreds of penguin chicks at various stages of life, all in need of round-the-clock care.

“In rehab, they really throw you in the deep end, so I think it helped that I have so much previous experience,” Diana said. “My first day there, they were like, ‘We’re short, do you mind feeding?’ So, they showed me how to tube-feed one chick and then it was like ‘Okay, good! Go ahead.’”