WORLD

63 African penguins die from bee stings

The mysterious deaths of 63 endangered African penguins are being attributed to an unusual cause — bee stings.

At least 63 penguins died at a beach near South Africa’s Cape Town City after a possible venomous swarm of honey bees stung the endangered species.

According to preliminary investigations done by government officials and a nonprofit organisation, the ill-fated penguins were attacked sometime between Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. According to reports of The Independent, a statement was released by government-run South African National Parks (SANParks) in which they asserted that the carcasses of the penguins were found inside the Boulders African penguin colony.

SANCCOB was responsible for investigating the deaths, along with SANParks and the City of Cape Town, SANParks said. The birds lived in the Boulders African penguin colony in Simonstown.

“The deaths occurred suddenly some time between Thursday afternoon and Friday morning,” SANParks wrote.

63 African penguins die from bee stings

Preliminary investigations revealed that the birds had multiple bee stings, and dead bees were also found on the site of the incident. The stings were largely around the birds’ eyes and on their flippers, which are the parts of their body not protected by feathers, SANCCOB’s Dr. Katta Ludynia told BBC News. One of the penguins was stung 27 times.

“Seeing the number of stings in individual birds, it would have probably been deadly for any animal of that size,” Ludynia said.

SANParks marine biologist Dr. Alison Kock further told BBC News that the deaths were not typical of bee and penguin interactions.

“Usually the penguins and bees co-exist,” she said. “The bees don’t sting unless provoked — we are working on the assumption that a nest or hive in the area was disturbed and caused a mass of bees to flee the nest, swarm and became aggressive. Unfortunately the bees encountered a group of penguins on their flight path.”

The incident is concerning because African penguins are considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

“The penguins… must not die just like that as they are already in danger of extinction. They are a protected species,” Roberts told AFP.

African penguins are uniquely small and live on the coasts and islands of South Africa and Namibia, according to BBC News. There are 41,700 mature adults left in the wild, IUCN said, and their population is declining, mostly due to food shortages because of changing environmental conditions and competition with commercial fisheries.

Officials have also sent biological samples to test the newly dead birds for disease and toxins, SANParks said.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button
Close