PhD graduate gathers African penguin sperm for research

FOR his thesis, Patrick Siyambulela Mafunda endured hours of pinching, screaming and biting to collect penguin sperm, all in the interests of investigating the reproductive biology of the African species to ensure its longevity.

The Medical Biosciences PhD graduate, who hails from the small town of Matatiele in the Eastern Cape, said that the African penguin was the continent’s only penguin species and was listed as an endangered species.

“If we don’t come up with good plans to conserve these animals, they’ll be extinct soon.

“While there have been a lot of conservation studies done on the species, there haven’t been any on its reproductive biology.

“We need to understand that if we’re going to help preserve the species and especially if we want to do in vitro fertilisation in the long run,” he said.

Mafunda collected semen by using a special abdominal massage technique, which was difficult as the birds became very aggressive and pinch and bite, especially if they are not familiar with human contact.

“We need to know when they breed, when to collect semen and find out a way to preserve semen, to create a biobank, and that wasn’t easy,” he said.

Mafunda used home pen birds from the South African National Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds and first investigated and described the histology and ultra-structural features of their testes and ovaries.

The study concentrated on the quality assessment of semen and the physiology of the sperm, including pilot studies on sperm cryopreservation for future insemination, all of which involved the collection difficulties, as well as long hours in the lab.

Finally, hormonal profiles for the main reproductive steroids were established, using monthly blood samples.

Mafunda also gathered fresh fecal samples and that involved waiting for the penguin to “go” and grabbing the sample as quickly as possible.

“There was so little information available on the African penguin for so long and, through the results of my study, it gives me a great honour to say that we have managed to provide such information, which has also opened other areas of further research interest.

“It took a while, but we managed to design a protocol to try to preserve African penguin sperm and that will play a big role in trying to come up with technologies that can assist in the preservation of this bird,” he said.

“It’s a great honour to have worked on a project that could change the world.”