The African Penguin

* African Penguins are also known as Jackass Penguins, Spheniscus demersus (Latin) and Blackfoot Penguins.

* They eat mainly fish (anchovies, pilchards, sardines, mackerel and herrings) but they also eat squid and shellfish.

* African Penguins are about 60cm tall. * Boys tend to be a little bigger than girls. * They weigh between 2.4 and 3.6kgs.

* African Penguins dive on average to 30m, * Can dive as deep as 130m. * They hold their breath on a dive for an average of 2.5 minutes.

* African Penguins can swim up to 20 km per hour when hunting * Their average swimming speed is 7km/h

* Average life span is 10 years. * Start breeding at aprox. 4 yrs old, and normally lay 2 eggs in a nest that is burrowed in guano or sand * Incubation period is about 38-42 days, with the mum and dad sharing the incubation duties.

* They live in colonies on 24 islands and along the coast between Namibia and Port Elizabeth.

The Capybara – the world’s largest rodent

Capybaras are the largest rodent in the world! They are related to guinea pigs and chinchillas.

Capybara Facts:

They live 5-10 years in the wild
Capybaras mostly eat grass. In fact, the word Capybara means, “master of the grasses.”
People get them confused with tapirs, pigs or nutria.
They have webbed feet and are awesome swimmers!
They can hold their breath underwater for up to 5 minutes.
A Capybara can even sleep underwater, keeping its nose just at the waterline!

Capybaras can weight up to 150 pounds!

Capybaras are found in Central and South America in habitats ranging from flooded savannah and grassland, and along rivers in tropical forest.

Capybaras live in herds and are very social.

Predators include: anacondas, jaguars, foxes, birds of prey and wild dogs. Even people!

To help protect them, it is illegal to hunt capybaras in Colombia. But sometimes they are killed by humans who see their grazing as competition for livestock.