SAVE ENDANGERED AFRICAN PENGUINS B y Aditi Deokar

In February 2013 we brought you The African Penguins on Dyer Island, South Africa, can hear a strong little heart beating more than 14 500km away

This strong little heart belongs to a bushy tailed, bright eyed, little lady, by the name of Aditi Deokar.

Aditi is a 7 year old, grade 4 learner from the Challenge Centre -Garfield Elementary School, Sioux Falls in South Dakota, USA. And Aditi is in love with the African Penguin

Reading about this endangered species, and its current struggle for survival, touched Aditi’s heart. She immediately knew that she had to do something to help save them. After all, what would a world without African Penguins be like? She started researching the species on the web, eagerly lapping up any info she could find, and this enquiring mind led her to the website of the Dyer Island Conservation Trust.

On the DICT website she learnt about the steady declining African Penguin population, and the Faces of Need Penguin Project – building and deploying artificial nests for the various onshore and offshore colonies along the South African Coastline. She was so impressed and inspired with our work that she decided to join the trust in contributing to the conservation of the African Penguin.

Charity begins at home what a better way to start than to create awareness amongst your friends and family and in this case, your school as well. She did the following abstract as a school project, and made contact with the DICT afterwards to send us her project and donate towards the Faces of Need Penguin Project:

SAVE ENDANGERED AFRICAN PENGUINS B y Aditi Deokar

Did you know that a penguin could live in Africa? Well, it can. Read on to find out how you can help save endangered African penguins by joining Dyer Island Conservation Trust (DICT), an organization that helps save African penguins. Please read on to learn how African penguins are becoming extinct and hopefully you will join DICT, which will help African penguins. To start, guano scraping is a way African penguins are dying out. Guano is nutrient rich bird droppings later sold as fertilizer. Penguins burrow into the guano layer to make their nests. Now, penguins have to nest on the surface, which exposes them to harsh weather conditions and predators. To help the penguins, DICT builds artificial nests. Artificial nest pictures Next, egg harvesting has been causing penguins to become endangered. Penguin eggs used to be considered a delicacy in Europe, and there was a very high demand for them. Since penguins will lay new clutches if the first egg is unsuccessful, most penguins were pushed to their limits constantly laying new eggs. To protect penguins from egg harvesters, DICT protects areas of land from them. Finally, oil pollution is also a problem for penguins. When oil tankers illegally empty their oil containers into the sea, it can harm penguins. Oiled penguins must be cleaned with soap and rehabilitated in order to survive. To help penguins during oil spills, DICT collects unharmed penguins and cleans oiled ones. Oiled penguins before and after cleaning Are you going to join Dyer Island Conservation Trust soon? I have, and Im sure youll love it. You can donate money to build an artificial nest or for rehabilitation. Any amount will help, so From 1-3 November, Dyer Island Conservation Trust marine biologists, Oliver and Michelle, presented some of our white shark research at the 17th

Oliver presented his masters dissertation results on white shark movement patterns around Dyer Island and Michelle presented the practical aspects of the

By the end of the exhibition of Penguin Landing at Rolling Hills Zoo, $1,000 had been raised through the Penny Plunge for the Dyer Island Conservation Trust – enough to sponsor 22 penguin nests for the African Penguins in the colonies around South Africa.

We are extremely pleased to be able to put these funds toward the crisis facing South African penguins, said Rolling Hills Zoos Director of Marketing & Development, Vickee Spicer. Conservation education was a critical part of the exhibit and we felt like we were able to make a difference with help from the community and our visitors.

This amazing effort made by this wonderful Zoo on the other side of our planet is a huge compliment to the DICT, and a very appreciated contribution to our work.

Thank you Rolling Hills Zoo your choice made a difference in the lives of our endangered African Penguins!

For more information on this project please visit the Dyer Island Conservation Trust.