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With fewer than 10,000 breeding pairs left in the wild, the African penguin has a predicted nine years left before extinction. The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden team is committed to trying to stop that tragedy, and you can help! To learn more about what is causing this decline, check out our previous blog here. As conservation organizations work together and invite others in to act, there are steps we all can take to make sure this prediction does not become reality, working flipper in flipper to stand in solidarity with our seabird buds.

At the Cincinnati Zoo, African Penguin Point is home to our own colony of African penguins that act as ambassadors for their wild counterparts. For more than 15 years, the Cincinnati Zoo has offered Behind-the-Scenes tours for guests to have the opportunity to meet these beloved seabirds while supporting our mission to conserve their wild population. Behind-the-Scenes Tours are an important way in which guests can truly connect with African penguins while funding their conservation. Whether that be the African penguin feeding tour, VIPenguin, or the Little Blue Penguin experience, guest participation and curiosity surrounding seabirds at the zoo is what fuels conservation action for the species in the wild. Sign up for a tour today.

Funds from these Behind-the-Scenes penguin tours go to support the critical work of our partner, Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB). SANCCOB is dedicated to reversing the decline of seabird populations through rescue, rehabilitation, release, and environmental advocacy. Through emphasis on collaborative conservation efforts, SANCCOB hopes to build a future where seabirds and people can live together in ecological sustainability. SANCCOB is leading the charge in conserving the land and resources necessary for the species’ survival, empowering rehabilitated and released penguins to join breeding colonies and reverse their population’s rapid decline. Our funds have supported SANCCOB’s critical work, such as:

• Operations at the chick-rearing facility, supporting the nursery team to effectively care for chicks, handle daily feedings, administer medications, and document their progress as they grow

• Supporting ranger’s work, where they keep eyes on the beach to look out for injured birds, along with damaged or abandoned eggs that require hand-rearing or veterinary attention

SANCCOB and the Cincinnati Zoo believe everyone has a role to play in conservation. Our collaboration started with the work and support of our animal care staff and our dedicated visitors, and has expanded to engage others across the Zoo, including:

• Animal care staff knowledge exchange: knowledge exchange of animal care experts, which goes a long way when you are working with 600+ chicks annually. Our experts infuse critical knowledge into this largely volunteer-run operation.

• Community engagement design support: Social media support via online meetings has helped SANCCOB to amplify online messaging, supporting campaigns like Adopt an Egg, which raises funds to support critical operations.

• Community Engagement Support: In-person workshop as a knowledge exchange from the Cincinnati Zoo’s Dr. Lily Maynard, Vice President of Conservation Impact, and Julia Glenn, Strategic Project Manager, supported SANCCOB’s community engagement planning with best practices in action campaigns addressing threats to African penguins and advised their collaborations with AZA organizations.

• Solar Support: The Cincinnati Zoo’s Global Community Solar Resiliency Program is looking forward to an upcoming solar array installation breaking ground this October 2026 at SANCCOB’s chick-rearing facility in Capetown, South Africa. The impact of this resource will save SANCCOB energy costs annually that will instead be invested back into reversing the African penguin’s decline.

We are committed to a future where African penguins are thriving. Working together and inviting others to join our teams can be the difference between existence and extinction for critically endangered species like the African penguin.

Join our commitment – How can you help?

In many pet foods, ingredients like anchovies and sardines are sourced from global commercial fisheries. Unfortunately, the sourcing of pelagic fish often does not account for the area’s native pescatarian residents, like African penguins, who rely on these same fish to nourish themselves and their young. The shortage of pelagic fish in the waters has led to difficulty for penguins in staying warm during an annual molting where they lose all their feathers, and difficulty in supporting their chicks come breeding season. Join our team working to support a future for African penguins by choosing sustainable pet food brand options, whose operations work to combat this overfishing.

With only 1% of the African penguin’s original population remaining, every role in their conservation effort matters. From the people who simply switch their pet foods, saving fish that will feed little chicks on the coast come breeding season, to the nurses in the chick-rearing unit in Capetown who work tirelessly to sustain eggs left to the elements by starved penguin parents- the only way the African penguin will survive is if we work together, advocating for and supporting the continued protection of this amazing species, the South African landscape, and its limited marine resources.