African penguins are facing one of the most severe crises in their modern history, confronting the threat of extinction. A new study has revealed that more than 60,000 birds have died in colonies off the coast of South Africa due to a sharp decline in sardine populations, their primary food source. Between 2004 and 2012, the penguin population in the two most important breeding colonies, Dassen Island and Robben Island, decreased by over 95%. Scientists describe this decline as catastrophic and unprecedented. The study attributes the collapse to climate change and overfishing, two factors that have reduced the vital sardine biomass to less than a quarter of its historical levels in most years since 2004. This has led to...
