Fibreglass igloos for rare penguins
Conservationists are building fibreglass igloos for a colony of endangered African penguins, the Jackass penguins. Their effort is to replicate natural nesting grounds of the penguins on Dyer Island, near Cape Town, and bring the penguin population back to a sustainable level.
The population of these endangered penguins is now at 5,000 from 25,000 in the 1970s. They rely on the nutrient-rich guano (bird faeces) to nest their eggs, to hide from predators and for a rare spot of shade on an island almost devoid of trees and bushes. But centuries of over-harvesting of guano by commercial enterprises to sell it as fertiliser has damaged their natural nesting grounds, thereby affecting the bird population. Conservationists say, the penguins are poking around the already built igloos and some have even helped themselves to a home, they say. The project, launched by conservationist groups, the Cape Nature and the local boat-operator Dyer Island Cruises, aims to construct up to 2,000 fibreglass igloos on the island and persuade more penguins to recreate.