Exciting new research…shows that at least three species of penguins have independently colonized Africa in the past. Today only one of those species, Spheniscus demersus, survives. Unfortunately, the future does not look very bright for them either making a day like this more important than ever. Population levels for this species in the wild have plummeted by over 90% in the past hundred years and they are now considered to be endangered, meaning that there is indeed a real risk they won’t be around for much longer in the wild at all.

Devoting a day to them should mean devoting ourselves to learning as much as we can about these charismatic critters and pledging to treat our planet as best we can. Penguins are generally considered to be a good sentinel species for the ocean environment. This means that their relative well-being is a good indicator of the health of the overall ecosystem; the challenges facing penguins are not really unique to penguins. They suffer from over-arching problems like over-fishing, climate change, habitat loss, introduced predators and, particularly for the African penguin, oil pollution. To quote the eminent Lloyd Spencer Davis, “Saving penguins is not really about saving penguins; it is about saving every living thing–all of us.” The CalAcademy’s live penguin webcam.

There’s a coming-out party on Saturday at the Knoxville Zoo and you can watch it live online.

Red Panda cubs Dolly, Bernadette and Winston officially go on exhibit on Saturday at 10 a.m. The Zoo and the Knoxville News Sentinel have partnered on a “red panda webcam” that will be streaming live video of the cubs.

Dolly, Bernadette and Winston were born in June at the Zoo. They are the 99th, 100th and 101st red pandas born in captivity at the zoo. The cubs will be in their nursery daily from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. until they get a little bigger, said Tina Rolen, the Zoo’s assistant director of marketing They will be going back to the zoo’s clinic in the evenings.

See them beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday at: Red panda webcam

Happy Feet has become a creature of the Internet age. The wayward emperor penguin, who was discovered on a New Zealand beach six weeks ago and will soon be returned to the wild, already boasts an online following of more than 120,000.

That’s how many unique visitors have logged onto a webcam set up to monitor his every movement. It’s expected thousands more will follow his progress after he’s released in the coming weeks, when feeds from a GPS tracker unit attached to his back will be posted online.

Then there’s all the chatter about him on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. It doesn’t seem to bother his followers that Happy Feet, nicknamed after the 2006 animated movie, does little more than eat, sleep and occasionally waddle.

“At 11:20 p.m. in New Zealand, Happy Feet was sound asleep with his left foot and flipper sticking out,” wrote one breathless Facebook fan. “Five minutes later, he pulled in his left foot and flipper and just got up! ”

The penguin was discovered June 20 on Peka Peka Beach, about 65 kilometres northwest of Wellington and far from his Antarctic feeding grounds. He was moved to the Wellington Zoo four days later after becoming ill from eating sand, which he likely mistook for snow. He has since gained weight and been given a clean bill of health to be returned to the ocean.Thousands of dollars have been raised by the zoo caring for the penguin that wound up on a New Zealand beach. It will soon be returned to the wild.Associated PressHis unusual journey has captured worldwide interest. Local television station TV3 set up a webcam on June 30 in the small, ice-filled room at the zoo where Happy Feet has been recuperating. The phone calls began coming in soon after. The zoo sent a veterinarian to check the penguin late one night after TV3 was swamped by worried callers convinced Happy Feet had died, said zoo spokeswoman Kate Baker. It turned out the penguin was sleeping.

Then there was the email TV3 received from Janet in Chicago, who said she was ill but took “a lot of comfort in simply watching the penguin.”

“It’s kind of like O. Henry’s story ‘The Leaf,”‘ she wrote. “I feel as long as the penguin does well, I’ll do well.”  Thousands of dollars raised for penguin’s care

Gordon McBride, TV3′s Wellington bureau chief, said he and a colleague came up with the idea of the webcam. “When we asked the zoo, they said ‘Yep. Why not.”‘ McBride said. “It’s such an unusual thing, and people like to see that.”

Baker said that as a result of the “great response” to the webcam, the zoo is now considering live streaming other animals and the zoo’s medical procedures. Through a public campaign, the zoo has raised the $10,000 needed to cover the costs of housing Happy Feet, she said. It also has raised about $8,000 toward the cost of returning him to the sub-Antarctic ocean south of New Zealand, Baker said. That trip could cost up to $30,000.

She said the GPS tracker unit will likely stay attached only until Happy Feet molts next April and could come off sooner. The penguin also has had a microchip implanted in him which will be triggered if he roams near monitored colonies in Antarctica : Penguin followed by thousands on webcam.

A Ukrainian zookeeper is heading into the lion’s den. This modern-day Daniel is hoping to generate funds for a private zoo and raise awareness for the plight of animals in Ukrainian zoos by living in a cage with two lions, named Samson and Katya, for five weeks.

He’s live-streaming his experience via webcam to draw public attention to the lack of funding available to private zoos in the Ukraine. Alexander Pylyshenko, 40, entered the lions’ enclosure this past Tuesday. During his 25-day stay, he’ll paint pictures of the lions, which he’ll sell to raise funds to improve the lions’ living conditions. His painting will be interrupted when he helps a lionesses give birth.

Pylyshenko’s zoo is situated in his yard in the Ukrainian city of Vasi­lyevka. ”I hope that my attitude and the optimism with which I approach this project will be understood by people,” he said in a statement on the zoo’s website.

He’ll leave the bare enclosure to take showers and use a toilet, making sure he avoids scented soaps as lions are sensitive to strong fragrances. Unconcerned for his safety, he plans to spend each night sleeping inside the cage on a wooden platform : Live Webcam Ukraine Vasilevka Zoo Lion

No need to live next to a zoo to watch animals all day, there are tons of popular webcam sites through which you can see any type of animal at any time of day.

What voyeuristic website has millions of Internet viewers flocking to watch? No, it’s not what you think; these viewers are tuning in to watch live animal cams. Zoos and other animal conservation groups are broadcasting live footage of many different animals from majestic bald eagles to too-cute black-footed ferrets and people all over the world can’t seem to get enough : Animal Webcams

Edinburgh Zoo is proving a hit with Twitchers. Skip related content. The webcam topped Twitter trends on Monday and the zoo itself is not surprised.

“Penguins are our most popular animals,” a spokeswoman said. “We have a penguin parade every day at 2.15pm where the public can see the penguins going for a stroll and we even have our own King Penguin with a knighthood.

Sir Nils Olav was knighted in 2008 and is honorary colonel-in-chief of the Kings Guard in the Norwegian Army. The zoo has a special link with Norway, having been given their first-ever king penguin in 1913 by the Christian Salvesen family from Norway.

Present-day connections continue with the proud penguin being given the opportunity to inspect the Norwegian Guard on their occasional visits to Scotland. Edinburgh Zoo is quite clear why penguins are such a favourite. “They are adorable, charismatic creatures with such individuality. “They have great wee personalities,” the spokeswoman explained: Live webcam of penguins at Edinburgh Zoo

PenguinCams!: Edinburgh Zoo  / Galveston: Moody Gardens / Maryland Zoo / Montreal Biodome / San Diego Seaworld / Sedwick County Zoo: Cessna Cove / Station Gars O’Higgins (Antarctica) / Tennessee Aquarium

More Zoo Sanctuary Webcams:

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo:
- Giraffe Cam

Dallas World:  Aquarium Cams

Esquimalt Lagoon Migratory Bird Sanctuary

Gatorland Gator Cam

Hohenwald Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary:
- Platypus Cam

Maritime Aquarium Webcams (Penguins and Meerkats)

Marwell Wildlife’s Animal Cams

Minnesota Zoo:
- Beaver
- Dolphin and Shark Cams
- Gibbon Cam

New England Aquarium: Blogs, Webcams, Videos and More (They have an Underwater Penguin Cam, but it is currently down).

San Diego Zoo:
- Panda Cam
- Ape Cam
- Polar Cam
- Elephant Cam

Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History:
- Ty Warner Sea Center Cam

Scottish Seabird Centre Wildlife Cams

Sydney Aquarium
- Fairy Penguin Cam

Toledo Zoo Webcams (includes two cams each on their Hippo, Seal, Elephant and Panda.)

Vancouver Aquarium:
- BelugaCam

Move over penguins, the Tennessee Aquarium’s sharks and Mother Nature are now getting a little face time on the Internet. Thanks to a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Aquarium has two new tools to inspire young scientists  an underwater streaming webcam in the Secret Reef exhibit and a real-time weather station with an HD webcam. 

The Tennessee Aquarium’s largest exhibit, the Secret Reef, offers 26 windows for viewing marine creatures found in the Gulf of Mexico’s Flower Garden Banks, one of 13 National Marine Sanctuaries. Guests touring Ocean Journey discover amazing facts about this protected ecosystem and how inland residents are both connected to, and dependent upon, healthy oceans. Offering a virtual dive in the exhibit that models the Flower Garden Banks extends the invitation to learn well beyond Chattanooga. 

“We hope this live video feed is fun and educational for people all over the world,” said Tim Baker, the Aquarium’s director of education. “Like our Penguins’ Rock webcam, this technology spurs curiosity about the animals and their habitat, leading viewers to search our website and the Internet for more information.” Take a virtual dive to see SCUBA divers, shark feedings and colorful reef fish.

The world’s oceans not only support an amazing diversity of life underwater, they also govern climate and weather, making life on land possible. Dr. Sylvia Earle, once NOAA’s chief scientist, reminded inland residents of these connections during a recent visit to the Tennessee Aquarium. “The ocean produces most of the oxygen we breathe and acts as a sink for carbon dioxide,” said Earle. “We need to understand the relevance of the ocean in our lives.”

A new, real-time weather station has been installed atop the IMAX 3D Theater. Instruments are now constantly monitoring and recording weather conditions in downtown Chattanooga. Aquarium educators will use climate data from this new tool in ocean literacy and watershed programs. “This is a great opportunity to build upon our classroom activities,” said George Bartnik, the Aquarium’s education programs manager. “By bringing real-time weather and climate data into programs, students will gain a better understanding of the water cycle, runoff, water quality as well as an appreciation for our water footprint.”

Anyone can now check out the current weather conditions and take a look at downtown Chattanooga 24/7. A live, high-definition webcam is streaming the view of what’s happening in the sky above the Aquarium’s glass peaks. View it at: Chattanooga Webcam