In 1747, the English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a description of the African penguin in the second volume of his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds.

[4] When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition, he placed the African penguin with the wandering albatross in the genus Diomedea.

[6][7] The genus name Spheniscus is from Ancient Greek word σφήν (sphēn) meaning "wedge" and is a reference to the animal's thin, wedge-shaped flippers.

[12] Juveniles do not possess the bold, delineated markings of the adult, but instead have dark upperparts that vary from greyish-blue to brown; the pale underparts lack both spots and the band.

[19] Today, their breeding is largely restricted to 24 islands from Namibia to Algoa Bay, South Africa,[20] with the Boulders Beach colony being an exception to this rule.

Although parent penguins are protective of their chicks, they will not incur nutritional deficits themselves if food is scarce and hunting requires a greater time or energy commitment.

[33] African penguins typically take around three weeks to moult and lose about half of their body weight by burning up their fat reserves in the process.

Due to high predation on the mainland, African penguins will seek protection on offshore islands, where they are safer from larger mammals and natural challenges.

The penguins spend three weeks on land caring for their offspring, after which chicks may be left alone during the day while the parents forage.

In 2015, when foraging conditions were favourable, more male than female African penguin chicks were produced in the colony on Bird Island.

Predators of nesting penguins and their chicks include kelp gulls, Cape genets, mongooses, caracals and domestic cats and dogs.

[37][38] Mortality from terrestrial predators is higher if penguins are forced to breed in the open, in the absence of suitable burrows or nest boxes.

[40] In the late 1950s, some French chefs expressed interest in recipes including African penguin eggs collected from the islands off the west coast of South Africa and placed annual orders for small quantities.

[46] Penguins remain susceptible to pollution of their habitat by petrochemicals from spills, shipwrecks and cleaning of tankers while at sea.

In 1948, the tanker Esso Wheeling sank, subsequently oiling and killing thousands of penguins of the Dyer Island colony.

[50] In 1975, newspapers reported that oil pollution from shipwrecks and the pumping of bilges at sea had killed tens of thousands of African penguins.

At the time, the Dassen Island colony was being passed by 650 oil tankers each month[51] because the Suez Canal had become blocked with wrecked vessels, thus increasing maritime traffic past the Cape of Good Hope.

[50] In 1979, an oil spill prompted the collection and treatment of 150 African penguins from St. Croix Island near Port Elizabeth.

[54] African penguin casualties were significant following the sinking of the MV Apollo Sea and a subsequent oil slick in 1994.

An additional 19,500 un-oiled penguins were removed from Dassen Island and other areas before they became oiled and were released about 800 kilometres east of Cape Town.

This gave workers enough time to clean up the oiled waters and shores before the birds could complete their long swim home (which took the penguins between one and three weeks).

Tens of thousands of volunteers helped with the rescue and rehabilitation process, which was overseen by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) and took more than three months to complete.

This was the largest animal rescue event in history; more than 91% of the penguins were successfully rehabilitated and released – an amazing feat that could not have been accomplished without such a tremendous international response.

[57] Due to the positive outcome of African penguins being raised in captivity after tragedies such as the Treasure oil spill, the species is considered a good "candidate for a captive-breeding programme which aims to release offspring into the wild"; however, worry about the spread of new strains of avian malaria is a major concern in the situation.

[19] Restricting commercial fishing near colony sites such as Robben Island for short periods (3 years) was shown to markedly improve penguin breeding success.

Measures include: monitoring population trends, hand-rearing and releasing abandoned chicks, establishing artificial nests and proclaiming marine reserves in which fishing is prohibited.

[1] Some colonies (such as on Dyer Island) are suspected to be under heavy pressure from predation by Cape fur seals and may benefit from the culling of individual problem animals,[62][64] which has been found effective (although requiring a large amount of management effort) in trials.

[66] In February 2015, the Dyer Island Conservation Trust opened the African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary (APSS) in Gansbaai, South Africa.

[67] The centre was opened by then-Department of Tourism minister Derek Hanekom[68] and will serve as a hub for seabird research carried out by the Dyer Island Conservation Trust.

The centre will also run local education projects, host international marine volunteers and seek to improve seabird handling techniques and rehabilitation protocols.