From CNN "https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/23/africa/african-penguin-nest-project-c2e-spc-intl-scn/index.html"

African penguins, unlike their relatives that live in snow and ice, thrive in the cold currents of the South Atlantic Ocean. But when they come to land, their thick black coat absorbs the heat, and they desperately look for cover – both for themselves and their fragile eggs.

Historically, the penguins dug burrows in layers of guano – accumulated seabird and bat feces – that lined Africa’s penguin colonies, but in the 19th century, traders started selling guano as fertilizer, leaving the penguins and their eggs increasingly exposed to predators and the scorching sun.

This, combined with other threats such as egg poaching, climate change and  overfishing has caused African penguin populations to plummet. In 2019, there were thought to be less than 20,000 breeding pairs, down from an estimated 1.5 to 3 million birds in 1900. For more than a decade, the species has been listed as endangered by the IUCN.

That’s why conservationists have come to the rescue with the African Penguin Nest Project – a coordinated effort between Dallas Zoo, AZA Safe, the Pan-African Association of Zoos and Aquaria, and the Dyer Island Conservation Trust – which aims to deploy artificial nests to give penguin parents a safe and shaded place to raise their chicks.