17/08/2026
🕸️“For me, African penguins symbolize resilience through community. Living in dense colonies, their survival depends on cooperation, connection, and collective care.”
📸Featuring “Community” by visual artist and underwater photographer Ysabela Coll (Ysabela Coll & José Alejandro Alvarez) —one of our Top-13 selections for the Q***r Nature Photography Awards 2026!
🌈🐋Same-sex pairing behavior is well-documented in African penguins. From elaborate courtship rituals and building nests to “rainbow parenting” by adopting abandoned eggs or fostering chicks, both male-male and female-female pairs form stable, long-term bonds that reveal how care, bonding, and family in nature transcend rigid binary structures.🐋🌈
🤳“My identity has taught me to embrace differences rather than fear it,” says Coll. “It gives me the confidence to experiment, to create authentically... knowing that creativity flourishes when everyone has the freedom to be themselves.”
⚠️Today, African penguins face a critical path toward extinction due to severe overfishing, habitat loss, and climate change. Protecting them requires immediate commercial fishing exclusion zones around their colonies, habitat restoration, and global action to combat ocean warming.
➡️Swipe through to read the full story behind the photograph, discover Ysabela’s vision, and learn how we can protect our living ecosystems!
🐧 Subject: African Penguins (Spheniscus demersus) – Endangered 🔴
📸 Photographer: Ysabela Coll
🏆 Selection: Q***r Nature Photography Awards 2026 (Top-13)
***rNaturePhotographyAwards
