According to foreign media reports, dozens of endangered African penguins were killed by a swarm of bees on Friday. African penguins, which live off the coast and islands of southern Africa, were listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2010, meaning they are at high risk of extinction.
Infographic: African penguins
According to a statement from South Africa's National Parks (SANParks), 63 African penguins were found dead in a habitat near Cape Town on Friday.
"The death occurred sometime between Thursday afternoon and Friday morning," and experts have begun investigating the cause of death, the statement said. The South African CoastAl Bird Conservation Foundation and the City of Cape Town assisted in toxicological experiments and autopsies on the dead penguins, and found multiple sting marks on each penguin, with no other trauma.
South Africa's National Parks said preliminary investigations showed the penguins were stung by cape bees in the Cape Town area. According to Red Star News ("A Worker Bee in 1990 Perfectly Cloned Itself Millions of Times Scientists: Incredible Genetic Mutations"), the worker bees in cape bees invade other bee territories and forcibly enslave them to help feed their own larvae, a special way of survival that causes about 10 percent of South African native bees to be killed each year.
On Sunday, David Roberts, a veterinarian at the South African Coast Bird Conservation Foundation, told the media that bee bites were spotted around the eyes of penguins. "This is very rare and we hope it's just an accident." "[African] penguins can't just die because they're already in danger of extinction," he said. They are a protected species. ”
Alison Cork, a marine biologist at South Africa's National Parks, said no more carcasses of African penguins have been found at the scene and that "we will continue to monitor the situation." ”
African penguins are native to the coasts of South Africa and Namibia. They are one of the smaller penguins known for their irregular markings and loud sounds.
Since the Industrial Revolution, African penguins have faced food shortages caused by competition with local fisheries, and rising ocean temperatures have caused fish to move away from their normal range, which has also become a test for the survival of the species. In particular, in the last century, the population of African penguins has dropped from more than 1 million to 55,000. There are even scientists who predict that African penguins will become completely extinct by 2026.
Red Star News reporter Jiang Yijin
Edited by Li Binbin
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