“If we don’t come up with good plans to conserve these animals, they’ll be extinct soon,” he said. “While there have been a lot of conservation studies done on the species, there haven’t been any on its reproductive biology. We need to understand that if we’re going to help preserve the species.”
Penguins are believed to stimulate their genitals against rocks and by sliding on ice, and Mafunda found he could induce ejaculation by massaging their abdomens.
He used birds at the Two Oceans Aquarium and the SA Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds, first investigating and describing their testes and ovaries.
Then he studied the quality and physiology of their sperm, including pilot studies on sperm cryopreservation for future insemination — all of which involved collection difficulties as well as long hours in the lab.
Finally, hormonal profiles for the main reproductive steroids were established using monthly blood samples, and Mafunda gathered fresh faecal samples.
“There was so little information available for the African penguin for so long,” he said. “It is a great honour for me to say that we have managed to provide such information, which has also opened other areas of further research.”
Because African penguins are endangered, ethics clearance was time-consuming, and he also faced a “girlfriend” issue: when male penguins breed they reject human handlers, halting sperm collection.