The California Academy of Science’s African penguin colony has long been a visitor favorite. The endangered African penguins are also a focus of one of the Academy’s many research efforts. They are one of 48 accredited institutions participating in the African Penguin Special Survival Plan that managee 800 penguins betwee them. the Penguin Islands, a stretch of rocky outcroppings off the coast of Namibia once considered valuable for their guano deposits, get their name (and, er, their guano) from Spheniscus demersus—the only species of penguin to breed in Africa.