African Penguin

Talk about rare! The African penguin calls South Africa its home and is the only breeding penguin species on the whole continent. ‘Breeding takes place in southwest Namibia and western and southern South Africa and occurs at 28 colonies: 24 on islands and four on the mainland,’ Ashe says, adding that less than two percent of the population exists in the wild today.

Unlike the penguins in Antarctica fending off frigid temps, the African penguin battles heat on the toasty African coastlines. It’s not uncommon to see the penguins sticking out their white chests to minimize the heat absorption when they’re stuck on the shore incubating eggs or tending to newborn chicks.