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Summary: Island Oddballs: penguins of dubious parentage
Jenny Griffin
Avian Demography Unit, UCT, Rondebosch, 7701
The Afri can Penguin Spheniscus demersus is
endemic to southern Africa and its offshore
islands, their geographic range extending
from the offshore islands of Namibia in the
west to Algoa Bay in the east, with
non-breeding vagrants occasionally wander-
ing north to Angola and Mozambique.
Although unique in its markings, it
does closely resemble the Humboldt Penguin
Spheniscus humboldti and the Magellanic
Penguin Spheniscus magellanicus, both
endemics of South America. While there are
reportedly no sub-species of any of these
three penguins, anomalous individuals
resemblinghybridsofthesespeciesdoappear
on our coastline. On visits to both Robben
and Dassen island penguin colo nies, I usually
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