The penguins will allow people to approach them as close as a meter. Breeding populations of African penguins are being kept in numerous zoos worldwide. No colonies are known outside the southwestern coast of Africa, although vagrants (mostly juveniles) may occasionally be sighted beyond the normal range. Population Roughly 4 million African penguins existed at the beginning of the 19th century. Of the 1.5 million African penguins estimated in 1910, only some 10% remained at the end of the 20th century. African penguin populations, which breed in Namibia and South Africa, have declined by 95% since pre-industrial times. Today, their breeding is largely restricted to 24 islands from Namibia to Algoa Bay, South Africa, with the Boulders Beach colony being an exception to this rule. The total population fell to approximately 150,000–180,000 in 2000. Of those, 56,000 belonged to the Dassen Island colony and 14,000 to the Robben Island colony. The colony at Dyer Island in South Africa fell from 46,000 in the early 1970s to 3,000 in 2008. In 2008, 5,000 breeding pairs were estimated to live in Namibia. In 2010, the total African penguin population was estimated at 55,000. At the rate of decline seen from 2000 to 2010, the African penguin is expected to be extinct in the wild by 2026. In 2012, about 18,700 breeding pairs were estimated to live in South Africa, with the majority on St. Croix Island in Algoa Bay. The total breeding population across both South Africa and Namibia fell to a historic low of about 20,850 pairs in 2019. Behaviour Diet African penguins forage in the open sea, where they feed on pelagic fish such as sardines (including the blue pilchard), Cape horse mackerels, red-eye round herrings and anchovies (specifically the European anchovy and the Southern African anchovy) and marine invertebrates such as squids and small crustaceans, primarily krills and shrimps. Penguins normally swim within of the shore. A penguin may consume up to of prey every day, but this may increase to over when raising older chicks. Due to the marked decline of sardines in the waters near its habitat, African penguins' diet has shifted towards anchovies to some extent, although available sardine biomass is still a notable determinant of penguin population development and breeding success. While a diet of anchovies appears to be generally sufficient for the penguins, it is not ideal due to anchovies' lower concentrations of fat