Bored of Easter eggs? How about adopting an endangered penguin egg?

Instead of typical Easter eggs, a South African conservation group is inviting members of the public to adopt a penguin egg instead. The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) has been incubating over 200 eggs of the endangered African penguin that were rescued from two colonies, and is now encouraging donations to meet the cost of incubation.

The African penguin — the only species that breeds on the continent — was once South Africa's most abundant seabird. But now, the population has plunged from more than 1 million a century earlier, to less than 10,000 breeding pairs in 2024, SANCCOB reports.

“The African penguin is quite close to extinction by 2035, according to scientists. And with their endangered status, it’s really important that we do everything we can to protect the species," SANCCOB resources manager Ronnis Daniels said. "We cannot imagine a world where this species does not exist for future generations.”

Threats to the birds are legion, but the main culprit is commercial fishing, which has ravaged stocks of sardines and anchovies that the penguins depend on to live. Other threats include all the noise and pollution from the shipping routes around South Africa, according to Daniels.

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