Penguin App Delivers Cuteness To Go

Need a pick-me-up to remind you that good things exist in the world? Then the new "Pocket Penguin" app from the California Academy of Sciences is just the remedy.

The app, available for iPhone and Android, is free, and delivers a live feed from the CAS's African penguin habitat. Users can even toggle between three different cameras for the best view of the waddling birds.

African penguins, Spheniscus demersus, are an endangered species. According to some estimates, their population in the wild has dropped by about 90 percent over the last 100 years.

The birds breed at 25 islands and four mainland sites in Namibia and South Africa.

The African penguins at the CAS keep busy. In their cozy habitat, the charismatic birds groom one another, fight, breed and raise their young. The birds select long-term mates, and both partners help out with the little ones.

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