Media
Media coverage of my research
2024
The Daily Maverick (South Africa) – ‘Critically endangered’: Latest science confirms plummeting African penguin population.
GroundUp (South Africa) – Seal attacks contribute to African penguin’s looming extinction.
2023
Mongabay (USA) – South Africa’s penguins heading toward extinction; will no-fishing zones help?
The Daily Maverick (South Africa) – ISLANDS OUT OF BOUNDS: Creecy limits fishing around key African penguin colonies in ‘deal’ for people and birds.
BBC News – UK swan conservation success gives cause for hope.
The Independent (UK) – Whooper swan populations ‘grew 30 times faster in UK nature reserves'.
2022
Mongabay (USA) – Breeding success raises hopes for future of endangered African penguin.
Cape Times (South Africa) – Overzealous tourists could cause stress to African penguin chicks, study finds.
Hakai Magazine – As African Penguins Go Hungry, a Debate Rages in South Africa: Who Gets the Fish?
2021
The Guardian (UK) – The heat is on: from the Arctic to Africa, wildlife is being hit hard by climate chaos.
National Geographic – How we can help coral and seabirds survive a warming world.
Scientific American – Struggling Seabirds Are Red Flag for Ocean Health.
CNN – Shark and ray populations have dropped 70% and are nearing 'point of no return,' study warns.
New York Times – Shark Populations Are Crashing, With a ‘Very Small Window’ to Avert Disaster.
NewScientist – Sharks at unprecedented risk of extinction after 71 per cent decline.
BBC News – Extinction: 'Time is running out' to save sharks and rays.
National Geographic – Oceanic shark and ray populations have collapsed by 70 percent over 50 years.
2020
The Guardian (UK) – Decoy tactics: can fake concrete penguins help save the real thing?
2019
The Scotsman – Scavenging seabirds hit by drop in North Sea fisheries discards.
InsideEcology – Penguins and their chicks’ responses to local fish numbers informs marine conservation.
Oceanographic Magazine – African penguin behaviour could help dictate fishery management.
2018
Audubon (USA) – In Cape Town, a Dedicated Staff Gives African Penguins a Fighting Chance.
Scientific American – Misled Penguins Swim to Feeding Grounds That No Longer Have Food.
Times Live (South Africa) – No-fishing zones can save SA's endangered penguins, say boffins.
Nature Research Highlights – Baby penguins benefit from fishing bans.
Times of India – No-fishing zones may help endangered penguins.
Irish News – No-fishing zones could help African penguins, study suggests.
2017
Reuters – African penguins threatened by climate change and over-fishing (Video).
Scientific American – African penguins pulled into an ecological trap (Podcast).
Nature Research Highlights – Penguins caught in an ecological trap.
The Independent (UK) – Endangered penguins hunting for fish in wrong place after climate change creates 'ecological trap'.
2016
Times Live (South Africa) – African penguin vanishing from coast.
2015
News24 (South Africa) – Swimming with the penguins at Boulders Beach may be over (by Lawrence Bartlett, AFP).
Bloomberg News – African Penguins Face Short Lives, Few Chicks as Sardines Flee.
Portland Press Herald (USA) – Fish shortage may imperil African penguins.
Times Live (South Africa) – Government says it’s working to save our starving penguins.
The Conversation (UK) – Endangered African penguins on the rebound, but not yet in the clear by Caitlin Kight.
Current Biology (Magazine Feature) – Can zoos offer more than entertainment? by Michael Gross.
2014
Financial Mail (South Africa) – No-fish quandary and Rattling the food chain a two-part series by Michael Cherry (PDF of part 1 here).
Conservation Magazine (USA) – Could hand-reared penguins help seed new colonies? by Jason G. Goldman.
PBS (USA) – Hand-rearing abandoned African penguins could help save endangered species by Ashira Morris.
SPIEGEL Online – Speichern Nachzüchtung Pinguin-Kolonien (in German, coverage of my publication in PLoS One on the survival of hand-reared chicks).
Nature News – African penguins put researchers in a flap by Michael Cherry.
Dein SPIEGEL (Germany) – Seevögel in Not (Seabirds in Need) by Christa Roth (text in German).
Business Day (South Africa) – Research may give ostrich industry wings (see my publication with Maud Bonato and colleagues on immune responses and growth rate in ostriches).
2013
Africa Geographic (South Africa) – So long, and thanks for taking all the fish... by Cheryl-Samantha Owen (PDF here).
Radio Today (South Africa) – on The Sappi Nature Journal talking about the satellite tracking of fledgling African penguins.
2012
50|50 (SABC2, South Africa) – Interviewed about and filmed catching oiled penguins. Aired 2012.
Oiled Wildlife Care Network Blog (USA) – Oiled penguins in South Africa.
Talk Radio (South Africa) – on Environment Hour talking about satellite tracking penguins.
Smithsonian (USA) – Make Way for the African Penguins by Charles Bergman.
2011
50|50 (SABC2, South Africa) – Interviewed about tracking of fledgling penguins. Aired 2011.
Mail and Guardian (South Africa) – South African scientists to track penguins in wild.
Cape Times (South Africa) – Lucy the penguin swims into history with a backpack.
3 News (New Zealand) – South African scientists to track penguins.
Cape Argus (South Africa) – Penguin research goes swimmingly.
The Telegraph (UK) – Radio-controlled penguins: South Africa fits trackers to monitor baby birds.
National Geographic Online – the spot project is mentioned in an article on flipper banding.
2008
BBC News – Biometrics picks up the penguins and Penguins spotted by their spots (video).
BBC Radio 4 – Peter Barham on Click On talking about Penguin Biometrics (at 21 mins).
2007
50|50 (SABC2, South Africa) – Filmed and interviewed about automated penguin biometrics on “African Penguin: Twilight Hour”. Aired 2007.