Food fished away
Sardine and anchovy stocks have shifted and been fished hard, and a penguin that swims further to eat raises fewer chicks.
Your symbolic adoption supports the Wildlife Connect Penguin Fund, which provides funding to vetted organizations working to protect penguins and their habitats.
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| Item | $25 | $50 | $100 | $250 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold plated 2026 ornamentFree through December 20th, 2026 | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Personalized adoption certificate | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Collectible species cardFront and back | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| 8" plush | Not included | Included | Not included | Not included |
| 12" plush | Not included | Not included | Included | Included |
| Wildlife Connect tote | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included |
Penguins are among the most watched birds on earth and among the least understood. Behind the ones still breeding in healthy colonies is a great deal of unglamorous work: boats out to islands, nest boxes carried ashore, oiled birds washed and fed for weeks, and the colony counts that tell anyone whether any of it is working.
A symbolic adoption makes that work yours to be part of.
Your adoption helps support the organizations protecting penguins and the coastlines and ice they depend on. Rehabilitation gets results that can be counted bird by bird, and colony protection has held sites that would otherwise have been abandoned. The wider picture is harder. The IUCN moved the African penguin to Critically Endangered in 2024, and emperor penguins have lost whole breeding seasons where the fast ice broke up early.
And your adoption gives you something to keep.
You'll receive a personalized adoption certificate and a collectible, numbered species card that tells the story of the animal you're helping protect. At higher adoption levels, you'll also receive a penguin plush: a small, tangible reminder of something much bigger.
Because the best gifts don't disappear when they're opened. They spark curiosity. They start conversations. They remind us that a colony on a beach in South Africa is part of our world, too. Its future is something all of us can help protect.
Adopt a penguin. Help protect its colony. Become part of its story.
Population trend: decreasing. The IUCN moved the African penguin to Critically Endangered in 2024, after a decline that has run for more than a century.
Sardine and anchovy stocks have shifted and been fished hard, and a penguin that swims further to eat raises fewer chicks.
Emperor penguin chicks need stable fast ice to fledge, and several colonies have lost an entire season when it went early.
One spill can oil thousands of birds at once, and every bird needs weeks of washing and care before release.
Colonies on open ground are increasingly exposed, and adults driven off nests in heat leave eggs to the gulls.
Funds from our penguin adoptions go to the Wildlife Connect Penguin Fund, which supports vetted wildlife sanctuaries and conservation organizations working to protect penguins, their habitats, and the many species that live alongside them.
Learn about our impact