Meet our African penguins

So African penguins... African penguins... It's a break. My name's Kim and I am one of the lucky people to take care of the penguins. Today we're going to go feed them and learn some more about penguins. So come on! Oh my goodness, who's hungry? So here at the Monterey Bay Aquarium all of our penguins came from other zoos and aquariums or they hatched right here. Our African penguins are animal ambassadors. They help educate our visitors on their species and issues they're facing in the wild. You can tell all of our penguins apart by their name band. Sometimes you can actually tell by their voice. Thank you. We feed our penguins several types of sustainable seafood but in the wild they would eat anchovies and sardines. I have something to say today. If you want soap opera. So you may notice there's not ice and snow in here because African penguins don't live in that kind of habitat. African penguins live in a habitat that's actually very similar to here in Monterey. It's a rocky coast with some beaches, kelp in the water, cold water. African penguins are a critically endangered species. There's lots of things that are affecting them in the wild. Climate change is affecting them because their food is going out farther because of the warm waters. So they have to travel farther to find their food and also they're competing with fisheries. The sardines and anchovies which is their main prey item is being overfished. There's not enough sardines and anchovies left to sustain these populations. Without their food sources the penguins are not going to be able to feed their chicks and themselves. So they are abandoning their chicks at alarming rates. Several of my team and I have actually gotten to go down to South Africa and help wild African penguins. Monterey Bay Aquarium partners with SANCOB, the South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds. We have sent staff down to help feed, medicate and release penguins back out into the wild. Once they're released, SANCOB can actually track where these penguins are going. They have actually found that the eastern coast has a little bit more fish for them to consume. So that is amazing news. What you doing? Not all of us can go to Africa to see these birds but there are things that you can do right here at home to help these birds. No matter where you live, one of the easiest and most effective ways you can support the ocean is by choosing sustainable seafood because your choices do matter. You can use the guides on seafoodwatch.org. You can scroll through the guides and it'll help you make the best choices possible. Ask your grocery store or a restaurant if they sell sustainable seafood because anything we can do to help penguins or other birds is going to be amazing. Thanks for coming into the penguin exhibit today. If you'd like to learn more about African penguins, please visit our website at MontereyBayAquarium.org.