The African penguin, native to the southern coasts of Africa, once boasted a population of around 4 million individuals at the beginning of the 20th century. However, current estimates indicate a stark decline to approximately 30,000. Paweł Borecki from the Doctoral School of the University of Life Sciences in Wrocław explains, “the population decline resulted from the massive extraction of guano from penguin breeding sites; the guano was used as fertilizer in agriculture.”

“Penguins dug burrows in it [guano], and built nests. Deposits of this material, several meters thick, were extracted to bare rock, destroying the breeding environment. Another historical cause was the mass collection of penguin eggs for consumption. They were considered a delicacy. A million eggs per year were collected from just one island off the coast of South Africa,” conveyed Paweł Borecki.

There is a looming threat that the African penguin species may face extinction in the wild within the next two decades. This underscores the urgency behind the development of a method for cryopreserving the semen of African penguins. Paweł Borecki, who works daily at the Wrocław Zoo, where over a hundred representatives of this species reside, emphasizes the critical nature of this endeavor. The zoo hosts one of the largest colonies of African penguins in the world.

“We want our birds to become ambassadors of their cousins from Africa and contribute to saving the wild population. We hope that the creation of a penguin sperm bank will help preserve genetic diversity in the future,” emphasizes Paweł Borecki.

The risk of species extinction is mitigated by the presence of African penguins in zoos. However, to ensure the long-term viability of the species, it is crucial to restore their population in the wild. In this regard, the sperm bank will play a pivotal role by helping to maintain a diverse genetic pool, which will be invaluable for future conservation efforts.