Monday, July 9, 2007

The Boulders

The first morning in Cape Town we drove through picturesque False Bay and Simon’s Town to the Boulders penguin colony at Foxy Beach.

The penguins are freaking hilarious. They have this little butt shake and wing flap and their legs are so short that sometimes they trip when trying to climb over large things like a fallen branch or seaweed.

These were African Penguins, but used to be named the Jackass Penguin, so called because they make a loud braying noise.

Other African Penguin facts: they can swim at an average speed of seven kilometers per hour and can stay underwater for up to two minutes; their white undersides camouflage them from predators looking up at them underwater and their black backs camouflage them from predators looking down at them onto the water; they are monogamous; they are a classified vulnerable species.

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