Tweedle the Black Footed Penguin

Get to Cape Town, South Africa to visit the Black Footed Penguin colony who lives there on Boulder’s Beach. Then return to my home base in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Bonus: I would like to visit all my penguin friends along the journey. Get pictures of me, with my penguin friends, on your visits to zoos and aquariums.

PLEASE DO NOT KEEP ME. IT IS IMPERATIVE TO MY SPECIES THAT I CONTINUE ON MY JOURNEY.

My name is Tweedle. My owner’s are Mason & Alyssa. Mason proposed to Alyssa in 2015 at the N.E.W. Zoo in Green Bay, Wisconsin with the help of a black footed penguin named Tweedle. Alyssa has always loved penguins and has tried to bring awareness to the species, as it is declining. Tweedle is the only penguin at this specific zoo who does not have a mate. Thus we have decided to “send her” on her own journey to Cape Town, South Africa. This is the breeding grounds of the black footed penguin. We are hoping Tweedle finds her soulmate on this journey and makes many friends along the way. We also hope she brings awareness to this species. Alyssa and Mason have adopted Tweedle and donate to the conservation of this species. 

These penguins are monogamous, breeding with the same mate, generally returning to the same nest year after year. They can move at up to 20km per hour when hunting and feeds on small marine animals like pilchards, mackerel and squid. It is the only penguin species that breeds in Africa. Black-footed penguins are found exclusively in Africa. They are known to breed between Namibia and South Africa. When not breeding, the birds can be found across Africa's southern shore.

Sadly, it is estimated that the population of African Penguins today is a mere 10% of the numbers at the turn of the century. The radical decline in penguin numbers is due to over hunting of penguin eggs (considered a delicacy), oil spills, increased fishing, and habitat destruction. Today, the African Penguin is listed on the IUCN red list as endangered. The population of African Penguins has collapsed from several million in the nineteenth century to 1.2 million in 1930 to less than 70,000 birds today. The numbers are still declining. This charismatic little bird was pushed to the brink of extinction but has, in recent years, found world wide fame through a nesting colony in Simon’s Town on the Cape Peninsula of South Africa.

Today there is a nationwide breeding program among U.S. aquariums and zoos to ensure the survival of African Penguins in the event of a catastrophic event in their native habitat.