Nesting boxes could aid South Africa’s penguins Numbers are plummeting, but rangers are hopeful

BOULDERS BEACH, South Africa - Nesting in the sparkling sand, preening on the rocks and darting through the waters, the penguins on the southern tip of Africa are the ultimate crowd-pleaser. But crisis looms. Short of food, exposed to predators and the African sun, their numbers are plummeting. But salvation may rest in a simple manmade solution — housing for penguins. Dotting the shore of this penguin colony near the Cape of Good Hope are 200 nesting boxes, each big enough to house a happy family of parents, eggs and chicks. The experiment has already worked well on a more distant penguin island in South African waters, and wildlife rangers are eager to see whether the boxes recently installed on Boulders Beach, where tourists can watch the birds up close, will prove equally attractive.