Penguins: Tuxedo-clad Seabirds

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Ebony Money and I'm Rich Schwartz. Welcome to Amazing Wildlife, where we explore the unique stories of wildlife from around the world and uncovered fascinating animal facts. This podcast is a production of I Heart Radio and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, in international nonprofit conservation organization behind the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park. They're black and white and loved all over. Today we're talking about penguins. The tuxedo clad birds are immediately recognizable, but there's more to these flightless seabirds than their distinct coloration, Like did you know the hierarchy within the colonies determines the penguin's access to food and mates. And we're checking in with our conservation partner in South Africa that saves abandoned African penguin chicks to help revide the population of this endangered species. Rick Penguins live in such big groups. It's one of the things that stands out about them. How are these colonies structured? I understand their social structure is one of the things that specialists say make them so interesting. Well, yes, and Ebbony, I gotta say. Penguins are well known for their sort of tuxedo like looks, but when you look past that formal attire, you do see a truly fascinating flightless bird. You know, as you mentioned, the social dynamic of these birds is really pretty impressive, and specifically the species of penguin we have at the San Diego Zoo, the African penguins. Our colony of African penguins is really interesting, and honestly, there's so many personalities within that group, and then the dynamics from the pairs that are together and how everything works. It's really fascinating. Rick. When I think of penguins, I'm sure like many people, I think of the Arctic and images of penguins waddling on the ice. Are people eyes to learn that there are penguins in Africa? Oh yes, I mean, I gotta be honest with you. When I was first in college, really you know, ramping up studying my my species and everything, I was right there. I had no idea there were warm weather penguins. It was surprising for me, And I know we have guests all the time coming to the zoo. They are like, wait a minute, African penguins, But yeah, they live along the southern coast and off the sort of offshore islands there of Africa. They're one of actually several species that live in warmer climates, not on that classic sort of Antarctic ice flow that we always, you know, picture in our mind. And although they're well suited for living that life in the cold waters off that warm coast, they also spend a fair amount of their time on the beaches during the breeding season and while raising their young, you know, hatching those chicks, getting them to grow. This is where it gets kind of funny. They're usually that's the key word. They're usually monogamous. So each couple will usually return to the same beach every year, in the same nesting site. And these colonies then are are made up of, if you will, neighborhoods of penguins on these rocky shores that all know each other year after year, and they go back to the same nesting site, like I said, so it's pretty impressive. And then during the breeding season, you know, you can see a lot of African penguins just there in that one area on those beaches. So a penguin being usually monogamous, that stands out to me as being unique, is it, though? Do birds typically have like a lifelong mating partner. In many species, we do see this happen, but if one of the partners happens to pass away, they will usually find another mate. And we've also noticed, I have to be honest here, full transparency. At the San Diego Zoo in our colony, sometimes a little drama does get dusted up and we happen to see that maybe you know, there's a couple that might have somebody they see on the side, And this is something that we also see in the wild as well. This is can be attributed to sort of the importance of diversifying the genetic pool that way too for the species survival. Because I know, like a lot of people kind of turn in nature to find out whether or not monogamy is natural or not. I think that's fair enough to say from the most recent studies that come out that it is debatable on how monogamous species can be, So the debate continues to state continuous. So African penguins live in large colonies, like other species of penguins that live in cold environments, I would think that they would need to huddle together, which would not be as necessary in African environment or on the coast of Africa. Why do African penguins live in these large groups? Yeah, I think you know, that's a that's a Again, it goes back to kind of we we have this image of these penguins and this cold weather, so they're gonna huddle together to stay warm, and that is true for a lot of the species that live on the Antarctic ice. That that that cluster, that type group helps keep that body warmth together, keeps the cold air out. Now, when it comes to our frenzy African penguins, though, really the short answer is safety in numbers. You know, although these penguins they are really well adapted to evade danger in open water with their speed and agility. On land though, they do look good, but that tuxedo is not going to help them like it does James Bond to avoid the bad guys. You see, here's the thing. They are slow wattlers, and so there's safety and numbers. When the African penguins are together like that, they collectively as a group can protect their nests. They can protect their chicks and each other from any would be predator that might come into the nesting site. So what makes the African penguin able to live in warmer temperatures. You know, it's one of those things where it's it seems really odd to imagine. You know. You're like, when you think of a sandy beach, you don't think penguins, right, but yeah, there they are, you know, right there on the coast of southern Africa and these rocky and sandy beaches, and they have adapted really well. So most penguin species, of course, have adaptations for you know, being nice and warm with thick blubber to be in these cold climates. But when it comes to African penguin friends, there's a couple of adaptations and things they've figured out on their own. So one of them, which I know initially this sounds kind of gross, and so let me explain it. When they create a nest, they dig out a burrow that protects them from the sun. Now that parts on the gross part, but it's in guano. And so for listeners who don't know what guana is, it's a build up of excrement from the years of penguins being on these beaches. Yes, burd poop. But here's here's the thing about guano is when it dries and and sets over the years, and they can burrow into it. It's a lot like adobe or clay. So when they burrow into it, the temperatures maintain perfect temperatures for the nest. When the sun's out, it protects them from the heat of the sun. When it gets cooler at night, it maintains a warmer temperature. So that's a great adaptation for how can they have these eggs out in the open suns of Africa? And then of course this is something actually I want to challenge our listeners. If you come to the San Diego Zoo and you happen to see our penguins, look at the eye patches or the bar patches, i should say, above their eyes. If they are bright pink, that means the bird is kind of warm and it's cooling itself off off. So these bare patches above their eye allow them to regulate their temperature. If their temperature is cool, that will be more of a skin color and it turns bright pink because the capillaries or the vessels that bring blood close to the surface, they're opening up and allowing that blood to come close to the surface of the skin to radiate the body heat out into the environment. It's a really cool adaptation that they have to keep cool. And one other fun thing I have to share. They've also figured out shade works, so if there's no shade available, they'll turn their little backs to the sun and put their wings or flippers in front of their body and their feet, which then puts that a part of their body in the shade to help keep them cool as well. So they're pretty smart little birds. Sounds like it. How many different types of penguins are there in the world. This number eby might surprise a few people. There are a total of eighteen species of penguins, and here's a fun factory. Seventeen of them are only found in the Southern hemisphere, or below the equator. So when we look at the Earth, the equator being that sort of hula hoop around the middle below that is called the Southern hemisphere, and seventeen of the eighteen are found right there in that Southern hemisphere. So who's our one species that is not considered part of the Southern hemisphere. Well, that's the Galloppus penguin living on the Gallopicus Islands, which happens to go right along the equator, so they're considered to be an equatorial species. What are the major similarities and differences between the penguins and the Arctic and the ones on the beaches of South Africa. Well, I mean, I think at a glance we can definitely say there are a lot of similarities. I mean, for instance, not only the coloration pattern that we see that that black and white classic color, but also they're all great swimmers. You know, they use their powerful wings as flippers. It's a great adaptation where that doesn't fold up like a traditional wing any longer. It's it's out like a flipper. And the shape of the beak, the shape of the head, the way the body is structured, it's all perfectly shaped for zipping through the water with minimal drag so they can catch fish and get somebody to eat while swimming. Is this is sort of eating on the go, and they do it perfectly. Now, some of the differences is how well each species is adapted for where they live, and we kind of talked about how our African penguin friends are so well adapted at heat regulation and kind of figuring out how they can do that with those bare patches about the eyes and then with those that live in the colder climates, while they have that extra layer of blubber, they have adaptations of the way the blood circulates through their feet. They keep their feet warm while they're standing on the ice, and so much more so do they physically look bigger as well? Since you mentioned the extra blubber, can you see it to the nick and I or yeah. I think if you could actually see the species all lined up, you can definitely see the different sizes. Now, I don't want you to think that just because they're bigger they live in the colder climate. There are some species that are fairly small that do well in cold climates also, but they have that layer of blubber and they have other adaptations that help them in the cold climate too. And earlier we were talking about African penguins at the San Diego Zoo. What all goes into making a habitat reflect their natural habitat? Oh, my gosh, Ebony, it's it's really so much work that they put into this habitat. It was just built a handful of years ago. I mean that the boulders, the rocky beach, the waters and how it circulates like the ocean, would move and all the other species that call that habitat home. It's so well designed that the whole area, you know, we wanted to be exactly like the penguin's experience in the wild because we wanted to be able to see natural behaviors. It does feel, honestly too for our guests as they walk into this space, even on their side of the habitat, our guests feel like they just walked to boulders beach right there along the coast of South Africa. Speaking of keeping things natural, how does specialists working with African penguins at the San Diego Zoo handle the social dynamics you described? For instance, is it difficult for them not to intervene when a penguin is having difficulty fitting in or isn't faring well in the race for food? Oh? Yeah, Honestly, penguin drama is real ebony. They do have their you know, disagreements and there are kerfuffles, if you will. But it's really important that as much as our wildlife care specialists really care about each individual, they also understand that it's part of being an animal care specialist. You can't interfere with the social structure when it comes to a colony or group that relies on a well structured sort of group or society, and so we want to make sure. Of course, yes, everyone gets the food that they need and their proper diet and they stay healthy. But when it comes to the overall mental health, if you will, for the colony, we need to let the penguins work out their social dynamics on their own because this will really ensure the best balance and the overall health of the colony. That would be so hard for me, the mama there, I would want to help. Right, African penguins are critically endangered. How do their challenges in nature differ from penguins living in the Arctic. Well, unfortunately, all penguin species are facing sort of this ever changing ocean. You know, fish populations are shifting and decreasing, temperatures are changing, and it really has put a lot of stress on all penguin species that rely on these large amounts of fish. Now for the African penguin, not only do they face those same challenges, but they also have to deal with their nesting sites being destroyed. And remember earlier I had mentioned that they will burrow in guana or their waste their excrement to create their nesting sites. And you think of this happening over thousands of years of penguins on these beaches, how thick that guana must be. Well, here's the thing that's challenging for the guana or in general. Bird waste is really high in nitrogen, and this is a mineral that is really important to keeping healthy soil when you're looking to farm and grow crops. So for many, many years, the sites along the beaches that they call their nesting sites were mined, they were harvested, iguana was taken for fertilized production. This destroying of that nesting site left a lot of these these birds with nowhere to safely put their eggs because again that guana help protect them from the sun, protect them from predators, protect them from the cooler nights. And so now with this open space, it became very challenging for the penguin population, the African penguin population, to sustain proper levels. So we're just a few weeks into this podcast, and I'm already noticing that waste animal ways just seems to be so significant and the wild, and it's something that I would have never thought of well, and and to that point, Ebany, it's something that you learned very quickly when you start studying wildlife that everything has an important role, whether it's their poop or their activity in the environment, all plays an important role for something within the ecosystem. It's just a matter of us being able to pay close enough attention to see how important it is and what role it plays. So, how is the sanding a Zoo Wildlife Alliance addressing the African penguins conservation challenges? Well, of course, you know we mentioned another episodes we have our conservation hubs were all over the world helping, whether it's in partnership or with communities or sending our actual sciences there to do the work as well with other people. In the case of the African penguins, one of the cool stories that I love, and this isn't just us as the Sanitygo Zoo. These are zoos across the nation, across the world participated in this. So, as we mentioned, the big challenge African penguins are facing is a safe place to have a nest. But without that guano, what was one to do While we started building different nesting type boxes that sort of replicated how the guano dug out really worked for these penguins, and then, with several different designs available, zoos with African penguins deployed them across their habitats and let the penguins show us which one they preferred, and so of the top few that were selected by the penguins and zoos, those then were deployed to the beaches, allowing us to hopefully set up for maximum success while introducing these nest boxes to the beaches around South Africa. That's interesting. They're like pseudo product testers of sorts. Yeah, and it worked out pretty well. Now it's time for the San Diego Zoom Minute, an opportunity for you to learn what's new at the zoo. Baby Alert. There's a newborn giraffe calf at the San Diego Zoo and she has a name. The female cave has been named Mawe, meaning stones in Swahili. She was born to first time mom Saba, and at birth she weighed a little less than one hundred and fifty pounds and stood about five ft ten inches tall. Ma Way has been introduced to the other members of the herd and both mom and baby are doing well. Fun fact, like Ebony said, Saba is five ft ten and an adult giraffe neck is six long. That means when Saba is an adult, her neck will be as long as she is tall at birth. As part of global conservation efforts, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance partners with Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds, also known as sand cob sand Cobb is a first responders of sorts for coastal birds. Each year, their staff and volunteers treat more than hundred injured and sick and oiled seabirds. I'm bringing in now Dr David Roberts to tell us more about sand Cobbs twenty four seven rescue efforts. Hi. Dr Roberts, Hi, thank you for having me. So why is round the clock rescue service needed for coastal birds. It's quite amazing. But yes, we really do have a twenty four service because at any point in time we may have a big disaster, something like an oils fill or a mass mortality event of some sorts. But also we provide a service to the public. Anyone who finds a sick or injured bird and that bird needs attention, human intervention and the ability to be rehabilitated. We try to look after that bird as soon as possible because of course, if they're injured and they're suffering, they do need some help as quickly as possible, and therefore the twenty four Service helps. And a lot of these birds are endangered as well, so whatever we can do to save individuals can help species. For the purpose of this conversation, we've been talking mostly about African penguins um, but can you talk about some of the other coastal birds that our need of rescuer. Yes, we see sometimes over thirty different species every year. The most important ones to us, of course the endangered one. So here in southern af Rica we have cape cormorants they're endangered and the cape gannet, which is also endangered. But we also see gulls, turns and other species. Sometimes the plagic species like albatrosses and petrols also come to each sound cope And does each species of coastal bird require a different type of care or some of it an overlap of techniques. There's a lot of overlap, and that's why we concentrate only on seabirds and coastal birds. They do require specific treatment. The penguins are what we're based at. For example, they need a lot of swimming space. And although all the birds need to swim, the others will need in every where they can fly. And some of them are very delicate and some of them very tough. So we have to know what we're doing with each individual species to have the best results when it comes to the end of the day. So what happens if you do get a car that a raptor needs help? Do you cast someone else? Yes, So we have partners and other places that look after other species. And of course members of the public don't know everyone to call for everything, so we are able to help them and for them to the right people. So Dr Roberts, what types of rescues does your team perform? Everything from assisting somebody who may find an engine to sick bird on the beach, and that involves some of our first responded team. These are volunteers in the local communities. You can go to a beach and pick up a bird or collected from somebody who's found it. To specialize seabird ranges that work in partnership with sand Cob and the local conservation authorities, and they actually work in the seabird colonies and can rescue birds as they're found in their own wild habitats too, really big rescues where we may have abandoned chicks some hundreds of animals at one time, or something like an oil spool, which is a huge disaster that requires really specialists equipment and specialist training. So it's a wide range of different things. And what obstacles do penguin's face along the South African coast. So we have our African penguin and it really is facing a lot of challenges and the due to a host of different problems. One of them is just the degradation of their environment, things like habitat loss. It includes the lack of fish, so lack of prey and that reduces their ability to raise chicks and survive in the wild. And there are a multitude of different contributing factors. Climate change is a big one, sea level sea temperature changes, ocean certification, pollution, habitat destruction, the list goes on. But all those little things that people do um that impact our ecosystems have a knock on effect. And the penguins is the top predator often are the indicator species that show that the ecosystem is in its declining and is in trouble. Can you tell us more about specifically your chick rearing program. What's a chick rearing program? So that's quite exciting. What we are able to do is collect eggs that have been abandoned and chicks that have been abandoned by their parents or maybe in unsafe areas and wouldn't survive in the wild, and the eggs are incubated in our chick rearing unit. Um it's just specialized center which is with high bio security, and little chicks hatched there and then they looked after by our team and interns until they actually strong and healthy enough to be released again. And we released them at about the same age as they'd leave the nest and go into the world in a natural system. We've spoken about the process of raising different species of birds and rereleasing them into nature. With the chick rearing program there in South Africa, is there a process of having to prepare the check for nature. Yes, So the final stage after they've grown and they're healthy and their fit is getting them ready to be released. And so we have a few criteria they need to be able to swim well. They need to have waterproof feathers, so just like a duck, penguins feathers protect its body from getting wet, especially after things like oil spills. We have to make sure that those feathers are strong enough, waterproof enough so they don't cold old in the ocean that we have here. And then they must also parcel all their their health tests. They also have blood samples taken and have to have a vet ring check making sure they're healthy to go out, and then instinct takes over. They're released and they can catch fish. So it's actually quite amazing that they look after themselves after that. So Dr Roberts almost every year San Diego Zoo while Life Alliance care specialists travel to South Africa to assist sam Car with chick rehabilitation. Specifically, what goes onto this work and what is it like to collaborate with other specialists. So we really enjoy our specious partners that come from overseas to assist us. And from my point of view, it's often veterinarians and vet texts who assist me and it's really amazing to do their collaboration because they've seen things differently and they have different approaches. We can discuss a lot of the work that they do which is really pertinent to what we do. So I often pick up useful information from them, and they learn a little bit about what we do with African penguins because we see so many of them. There's usually one or two tricks that I hope I can teach them too. And how does it feel for you after going through the reintroduction process and seeing that a chick is ready for return to the wild. What is that process like for you to actually see them rereleased. It's the best part of the job, of course, is getting them back out into the wild and seeing them go and realizing that almost every bird that came through to Sanko would not have survived in the wild, and we're giving them that second trance. So it's always a huge boost to our happiness levels. We release birds almost every week, so we're really excited about that and it's it's going to be quite amazing. Wow, it's like a graduation of sorts. So how successful is this program? Any organization that does rehabilitation must also say how well do these birds do in the world. And we have a system where each birds gets a microchips, so we can actually follow up over years how well they're doing, if they're breeding, if they're successfully becoming part of that natural population. And we're happy to say that the chicks that get raised at SANCB have almost exactly the same survival rates as wild chicks from what natural colonies. Of course, those that come in with injuries, all of them don't get through the systems. Some of them don't survive it, but we still do release quite a lot and we see them later. And that's the really rewarding thing, the fact that we can follow up in two or three years time, say they're breeding, they've moved from one colony to another, and follow what they're do in the wild through their microchips, and so that's just amazing. How has the pandemic impacted the work you do well, It started off with a lot of changes in terms of our team sizes. We had to go into two team system right at the beginning of the pandemic, and so we've had to make adjustments to just our workflow. One of the biggest problems that we had is we can't have our international collaborators come to South Africa and work with us a lot of travel restrictions have stopped zookeepers and vets from traveling from overseas, and we also rely on international volunteers, people doing gap years and internships to the sound colps. Some of them will spend a whole year or six months working with us, and we just didn't get them from most of the country's usually work with. The way we've been able to overcome that is really through a huge response from South Africans that they've come to volunteer with us and boost our manpower. And so that's really worked. And what would happen if not for sand Calm? How essential, how crucial are the services provided by stand Calm. We feel like we make a huge difference to seabird conservation in Southern Africa. There are a lot of other collaborating organizations that we work with that help us as well. What's really nice from our point of view as a nonprofit organization is we aren't bogged down in the logistics and politics of a government organization, and therefore we can do things more quickly, we can achieve things um more easily, and we are more free to be able to collaborate. So a lot of what we do is assisting with collaboration between different conservation organizations and NGOs and donors to be able to respond quickly. For example, for with something like an oil spill where we can provide rehabilitation services there we can respond quickly. And we had a big disease outbreak recently and those animals wouldn't be able to sur five in the world, So our rehabilitation is is very important giving those animals second chance. But we also contribute to more big picture conservation and we're quite vocal when it comes to the legal implications um for conservation of protected areas, reducing over fishing and ensuring that that gets into the public eye. And we also take parts in a lot of the working groups government working groups trying to make decisions and influent laws that will protect our marine ecosystem. And you're doing amazing work, but what more can be done to better protect penguins and in need sare What's essential at the moment is protecting that the ocean ecosystem on which they rely, and the big cornerstone to that is the food availability. Over fishing and a lot of other effects have really reduced the stocks of the sardine and antrovy with penguins eat and that's having the biggest effect on this massive decline in their numbers and may lead to the extinction rather sooner. There is evidence that within thirty years African penguin might be functionally extinct. So what needs to happen is better protection of the ecosystem through big government action, reducing pollution, reducing over fishing. Public entities, businesses and individuals need to see what they can do to reduce those impacts. And then everyday people can also make a difference. You vote with your wallet by buying products which are more sustainably sourced, by reducing your plastic consumption, by reducing your consumption of energy, and I'm really thinking about what you do in your everyday life which affects the logic ecosystem. Every little bit does make a difference, and everybody uses a little bit less, then there's multiple around and more for the national environment. Great. Thank you so much for sharing with us, Dr David Roberts with sand Cob, it was wonderful chatting with you. That's it for penguins for today. We hope you learned more about the tuxedoed birds. Thank you very much. That was great, and that's our show for today. I'm Ebony Money and I'm Rick Schwartz. Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and tune into next week's episode, in which we share with you some of the easiest ways to spot the difference between leopards and jaguars. For more information about the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park, go to st z w a dot org Amazing Wildlife. As a production of I Heart Radio, our producer is Nikia Swinton, Our executive producer is Marci de Pina. Our audio engineer and editor is Amita Gnatra. For more shows for My heart Radio, check out the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.