Penguins in peril

Penguins in peril
Monday, April 6, 2009


The Magellanic penguins visiting the South Carolina Aquarium might not know how good they have it.

The Magellanic penguins living on the Atlantic coast of Argentina aren't so fortunate. Because of oil pollution, overharvesting of fish by humans and climate variation, their numbers have dropped.

According to recent research by Dee Boersma, a University of Washington biology professor and a leading authority on Magellanic penguins, they are having to swim 25 miles farther to find food than they did 10 years ago.

That means the parent who is incubating the eggs has to wait longer to be fed, and that means poorer chances that pairs will reproduce successfully.

Dr. Boersma has studied a colony of penguins at Punta Tombo, a government reserve in Argentina, for more than 25 years. It has declined more than 20 percent in that time, and it now has 200,000 breeding pairs.

And the problem isn't just for Magellanic penguins. She said that of 17 penguin species, 12 are experiencing rapid population declines.

That makes the opportunity to see those penguins at the aquarium even more intriguing. Penguin lovers can check them out Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.

Story courtesy of Charleson News @
http://www.charleston.net/news/2009/apr/06/penguins_peril77709/
Image by Flickr