HOW THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM LEADS PENGUIN CONSERVATION

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Florida Aquarium has four pillars of focus for conservation, one of which is to safeguard imperiled species.

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And there are few species here in the Florida Aquarium that are more imperiled than the African Penguin.

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So for us, this is a natural fit to make sure we're doing our best to help protect the species.

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African Penguin is an endangered species that can only be found in South Africa and Namibia and their population has been dwindling year after year after year.

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One of the most challenging things of of of saving an animal from extinction is trying to figure out what caused it to get to that point to begin with.

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Sometimes it's it's natural causes, in many cases of their man made causes, African Penguins, their their populations are, are being impacted by pollution, by overfishing, those things that those are economic drivers and to be able to correct that will probably not be likely.

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So working with these animals in human care and then being able to help in the field in the wild with with our partners that are actually doing the boots on the ground work is critically important.

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We also know a lot about Penguins being managed in human care because we know what they do, We know what they eat, they get regular checkups, we how old they are, what kind of a health history they have.

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And we can take that information and helps us understand wild populations a little bit better.

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Teams that manage animals like this, that work with them day in and day out, they know the birds inside and out.

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It's just amazing to see those relationships develop.

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Wild animals often mask symptoms, stillnesses, So the animals that are being cared for by the professional staff here at the aquarium know the idiosyncrasies of the birds.

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And oftentimes they'll think a bird is getting I'll before they even show outward signs of, of an illness.

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They give regular exams are looked at every each and every day.

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Their feet are examined, their body condition is, is looked at on an annual basis.

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They're going to go through a full health exam just like you would do with your dog at at the vet.

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The blood panels will be taken, blood work will be taken.

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Their eyes will be observed when the animals are healthy.

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So when they do start to have problems, we have something to compare against.

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Why should people in Florida care about what's happening to species in Africa or across the world?

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It matters because we really live in one planet, one world.

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And So what affects one species ultimately affects the ecosystems, including our own.

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Here.

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Penguins are out there fishing for their food, right?

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Like we do for our food across the globe.

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They can't find their food right now, which is a indicator of a bigger problem, and it's a problem that affects all of us across the globe.

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So one of the most important things we can do today is to form relationships with partners.

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Collaborative conservation is the only way we're going to address the issues that we face in today's world.

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So last year we hosted a Penguin waddle and the Florida Aquarium coordinated this international waddle with our partners in South Africa and Namibia.

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And we had dozens of countries that participated in the waddle on the same day.

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And the ask was for the public to send letters to the Minister of the Environment in South Africa to continue protecting the waterways where the South African Penguin fishes for its food.

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And what we can do here is not only work in country, but we can also work with our audiences.

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We've had more than a million visitors at the Florida Aquarium last year, and they get the unique opportunity to see Penguins close up and to learn about what's affecting them and take actions to help us move forward with conservation efforts for the species.