The Chief of Marine Services at the Aquarium, Siani Tilney, says the samples will then be Bio-banked and all birds Micro chipped to national legislation criteria.
She says the East London Acquarium was chosen for the introduction of this programme by the National Research Foundation, National Zoological Gardens and Pan African Association of Zoos and Aquaria.
Tilney says presently there are no other captive facilities that have put this programme in place, making this a world first.
She says the African Penguin is a CITES 1 listed animal, which means it is critically endangered and protected under the Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
