The deaths of two,000 younger Magellanic penguins have been blamed on overfishing and unhealthy climate
Round 2,000 lifeless Magellanic penguins have washed up on the coast of Uruguay prior to now ten days, authorities advised AFP on Friday, acknowledging that the reason for demise stays unclear.
9 out of ten of the birds have been juveniles who arrived with their stomachs empty and their fats reserves depleted, the top of the Environmental Ministry’s Division of Fauna, Carmen Leizagoyen, advised the information outlet.
Fears that the die-off may very well be the results of fowl flu proved unfounded, as not one of the animals examined constructive for the virus.
Whereas an identical mass demise happened final 12 months in Brazil, the explanations stay unclear, and the variety of lifeless birds is way from typical. “It’s regular for some proportion to die, however not these numbers,” Leizagoyen mentioned.
Some environmental NGOs blame overfishing, pointing to the ravenous situation of the penguins. Richard Tesoro of the NGO Marine Wildlife Rescue claimed the issue has been occurring because the Nineties.
“The useful resource is overexploited,” he advised AFP, including that he had seen petrels, albatrosses, sea lions, sea turtles, and seagulls flip up on the seashore in Uruguay’s Maldonado area.
Moreover, a subtropical cyclone off southeastern Brazil earlier this month could have completed off already-weakened birds.
Magellanic penguins usually migrate north from their nesting territory in southern Argentina, looking for meals and hotter water.
Greater than 300 Magellanic penguins died in 2019 when an excessive warmth wave struck Punta Tombo, one in all their largest breeding colonies in Argentina’s Chubut Province. Temperatures climbed to 111.2 levels Fahrenheit (44 Celsius), leaving lots of the birds unable to achieve the ocean in time to correctly cool themselves earlier than dying of dehydration.
A whole lot of little blue penguins washed up in New Zealand final 12 months, with the mass die-off attributed to hunger because the fish they usually eat had moved to deeper waters because of warming temperatures. Whereas some blamed this on local weather change, others countered that it was a part of a naturally occurring cycle.
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