According to the "Independent" reported on the 14th, in the past month, the beaches in the Dautlis Bay area of New Zealand have piled up a large number of carcasses of small blue penguins. Experts have investigated that the world's smallest penguins starved to death due to the warming of the ocean and the inability to catch fish.
(Little Blue Penguin Carcass)
The little blue penguin is the smallest penguin in the world, with an average height of 43 cm, distributed off the coast of New Zealand, South Australia and Chile, and is no stranger to New Zealanders.
(Little Blue Penguin Carcass)
In the recent month, New Zealand residents have found a large number of carcasses of small blue penguins while walking on the beach. In early May, carol Parker, a local resident, found the carcasses of more than two dozen baby blue penguins on a beach in Dottellis Bay, New Zealand. Since then, the local nature conservation department has also found the carcasses of another batch of more than twenty small blue penguins in the same area.
(Little Blue Penguin)
The head of the New Zealand nature reserve said the population of the little blue penguins had "been declining". Although "dying" little blue penguins are sometimes brought back to the reserve for treatment, in general, the survival rate is almost zero.
Since early May 2022, data from local nature reserves shows that about 500 carcasses of small blue penguins have been found along the beach. But Graeme Taylor, the nature reserve's chief scientific adviser, believes the data is not accurate enough because some of the carcasses of small penguins were found by residents and buried. So he thinks the number of baby penguins dying could be as high as 1,000.
(Little Blue Penguin Carcass)
The high number of deaths of little blue penguins has aroused heated discussion among local residents, who have speculated: How did these little penguins die? Did the fisherman hurt them while fishing? Or is there some kind of virus in the water? Or is there an infectious disease in the penguin colony?
After investigation, experts found that most of the carcasses of small blue penguins found on the beach were relatively thin and weight much lighter than normal. "Normal little blue penguins should weigh about 800 to 1,000 grams, but these dead little blue penguins weigh less than half the weight of normal little blue penguins," Taylor said. ”
(Little Blue Penguin Carcass)
Scientists agree that the little blue penguins were starved to death, and that the cause of the starvation of the little blue penguins was not the overfishing of fishermen, but global warming.
Because of rising ocean temperatures, many fish can only live in cooler and deeper waters, but small blue penguins generally can only dive 20 to 30 meters below the water. As a result, the little blue penguins could not easily catch fish, so a large number of small blue penguins were "malnourished" and eventually starved to death on the coast.
(Piles of corpses of little blue penguins)
Taylor said: "According to research studies, there is usually a large number of penguin deaths every ten years. However, due to global warming, there have been 3 mass deaths of penguins in the past 5 years. ”
Taylor added: "Probably in the near future, there will be no more penguins in New Zealand. ”
Nine Pai News intern reporter Hong Zhixuan
【Source: Jiupai News】
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author, if there is an error in the source or infringement of your legitimate rights and interests, you can contact us through the mailbox, we will deal with it in a timely manner. Email address: [email protected]