Here are the penultimate penguins: Jackass penguin (Spheniscus
demersus) and Galapagos penguin (S. mendiculus). The Jackass
penguin is also known as the black-footed penguin, or the
African penguin. Penguins, in Africa? Are you bonkers? What’s
next, polar bears in the Sahara? No, don’t be silly. There is a
cold-water current responsible for this bird’s distribution, the
Benguela Current, bringing nutrient-rich cold water from the
Southern Ocean to the south-west Atlantic via South Africa and
Namibia. The Galapagos penguin is the most northerly species of
penguin, it is even found at the Equator! This is even more
crazy than the idea of an African penguin. Why would a
classically cold-climate bird be found in the Tropics? The
answer also lies in the ocean currents: cold waters from the
Antarctic flow up the Pacific coast of South America towards the
Galapagos Islands, bringing nutrients. This current, the so-
called Humboldt Current, also gives its name to another species
of penguin from the coast of South Amer