I absolutely adore Fennec Foxes, but the odds of me ever making it to Africa to see one in the wild are pretty slim. I actually did see a couple in person once when my family took me on a surprise trip to the zoo a handful of years ago, and when I spotted them the sound I emitted was likely only audible to dogs lol!
While my love for fennec foxes is a tale as old as time, there are quite a few other faraway organisms I’ve discovered more recently, during my time on iNat, that have become some of my favorites. The Lilac-Breasted Roller, also from Africa, blew my mind when I first saw photos of it. They look like something out of a painting! I’ve found some truly stunning moths as well, such as those in the mostly South American genus Disphragis and the South African Coenobasis. If anyone asked me what my favorite moth was, as hard of a choice as it may be I would have to say the Indian Lily Moth from, well, India!
We have land-based penguins in Cape Town (next stop Antarctica - you can fly there in 5 hours the tourism ads tell me - not for my carbon footprint, thanks)
That was always a dream of mine as well and I had the opportunity to live it. I can remember the elephants coming down to drink as if it was yesterday. They seemed so confident until one of them was spooked by some guineafowl. They did get their drink though and I had the privilege of watching a female pull a calf back to shallow water when she thought it might be in too deep.
Oh? I always somehow thought those penguins only migrated to South Africa in the summers from Antarctica. Thank you, though! Bucket list! :D (carbon footprint concerns aside, of course!..but maybe we can fly on renewable fuels over the next 30 years or am I being too optimistic?
We have the cold Benguela current sweeping up our West Coast from Antarctica to Namibia.
Both even further way down South than us. New Zealand has the tiniest penguin species. And I presume South America has some?
I always dreamt of going to Antarctica - but - reading about scientists working there. And thinking about … pollution and habitat destruction. Where shall we put the landing strip for the plane, anchor the ship? Oops, sorry penguins, hop it!! Not a ‘green’ story - I will read my Antarctica.
You don’t have to go to Antarctica to see wild penguins! There are penguin species found in Australia, New Zealand, southern Africa, South America and the Galapagos Islands! Not the same species as you would find in Antarctica, obviously, but penguins nonetheless.
Given that they’re roughly as big as I am, it would be mildly terrifying if they decided to get aggressive (or even rambunctiously playful), but I’d still like to see them in the wild.