Aurelie Marrier d'Unienville & T. Trenchard/Panos

Dickie Chivell of the African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary (APSS) holds a sick penguin during a recue mission to Dyer Island. The bird was suffering from an increasingly common ailment, known to local conservationists as island sickness. The condition is thought to be the result of a buildup of toxic algae in fetid, sun heated rock pools by the waters edge. Before 2015 it was unknown, but it is now a problem every summer. African penguins face a wide range of threats from lack of food to disease, and their numbers have plummeted in recent years.