Picture of Pocket Penguins app layout.

SAN FRANCISCO (July 5, 2011) — Like a smartphone, once you have penguins in your pocket, you'll wonder how you ever got along without them. Launching today, Pocket Penguins, an app designed and developed by the California Academy of Sciences, will offer users live views of its colony of charismatic African Penguins 24 hours a day.

Users can toggle between three different cameras in the exhibit, including an underwater vantage point, and watch for natural behaviors including courting, establishing and defending territories, and collecting nest material. The next time a couple produces and begins incubating eggs, biologists plan to deploy a nest cam to share the egg incubation and chick rearing process with viewers around the world.

  • Insider Tip: The birds are especially animated during feeding time (daily at 10:30 am and 3 pm PST). Tune in during feeding time on Thursday, July 7 to see Academy staff and visitors wish Pete, one of the colony's youngest birds, a happy fourth birthday.

The free app is now available for iPhones and Android phones via the iTunes Store and Android Market. For links and details, visit www.calacademy.org/explore-science/pocket-penguins-for-android-iphone. The penguin cams are also available online at www.calacademy.org/explore-science/live-penguin-cams, and visitors to the Academy can see the birds in-person in African Hall.

About the California Academy of Sciences
Located in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, the California Academy of Sciences is home to Steinhart Aquarium, Morrison Planetarium, Kimball Natural History Museum, and world-class research and education programs?all under one living roof. Established in 1853, the Academy's mission is to explore, explain and protect the natural world. Learn more at www.calacademy.org.

About African Penguins

The Academy participates in the American Zoo and Aquarium Association's Species Survival Program (SSP) for African Penguins, aimed at conserving this species in the wild. In 2010, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classified the species as endangered, or at very high risk of extinction in the wild. African Penguin populations are threatened by competition with commercial fishing operations, guano removal, oil spills, and predation by feral cats.

About the California Academy of Sciences

Located in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, the California Academy of Sciences is home to Steinhart Aquarium, Morrison Planetarium, Kimball Natural History Museum, and world-class research and education programs—all under one living roof. Established in 1853, the Academy's mission is to explore, explain and protect the natural world. Learn more at www.calacademy.org.

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