Photo by ottowhitehead | On World Penguin Day, I'm spotlighting the plight of African penguins. In the past three decades, South Africa's population of the endangered penguins has plummeted by more than 70%, from about 42,500 breeding pairs in 1991 to an estimated 10,000 pairs. Here, a malnourished African penguin chick is weighed as part of routine monitoring on an island off the coast of South Africa. Without sufficient fish close to colonies, penguin parents must travel increasingly farther to find food, making it difficult to successfully raise their young. The food scarcity is a result of overfishing as well as changes in air and ocean temperatures, which affect the availability of sardines. For a related story about the uncertain future African penguins face and the people working hard to save them, tap the link in bio. #WorldPenguinDay #AfricanPenguin