{"id":57645,"title":"Living on a broken planet - African Penguin.","description":"I visited South Africa\u2019s famous Boulders Beach African Penguin colony in 2005, the species was already in decline and at that time it was listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. I was shocked to recently discover that the birds had since been listed as Endangered in 2010 and as then Critically Endangered in 2024.","content":"

\"We're<\/p>

I visited South Africa\u2019s famous Boulders Beach African Penguin colony in 2005, the species was already in decline and at that time it was listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. I was shocked to recently discover that the birds had since been listed as Endangered in 2010 and as then Critically Endangered in 2024.*<\/strong><\/p>

It was the end of a 5 month long adventure through southern and central Africa. It was the last few days of the trip, and I got to spend an amazing afternoon in the company of these charismatic character on South Africa\u2019s famous Boulders Beach. There were penguins everywhere, it was hard to imagine at that moment that they were already in steep decline as a species.<\/p>

\"African<\/p>

So what is causing this decline? It appears to be a combination of things all hitting at once, and all driven by us. It is thought that the main drivers of the decline are climate driven changes in their prey\u2019s distribution, competition from commercial purse-seine fisheries and oil spills, all have take their toll.<\/p>

In 1956\/57 there were estimated to be 141,000 pairs of birds, by the time I visited in 2005 the population was estimated to be 57,000 pairs, and by 2024 they were down to just 9,900 pairs of birds.*<\/p>

For this particular t-shirt design, given the seriousness and weight of the message, I picked a particularly poignant image of a lone individual casting a long shadow. The image seemed to lend itself to tell the story I wanted to tell.<\/p>

The collection can be found here: Broken Planet<\/u><\/a><\/p>

Please contact me if you would like the designs applying to different items. I am also planning on covering a number of other species, with their own set of problems.<\/p>

*Information from Birdlife\u2019s Data Zone website: https:\/\/datazone.birdlife.org\/species\/factsheet\/african-penguin-spheniscus-demersus#Distribution<\/u><\/a><\/p>

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