A African Penguin with a
newly placed satellite transmitter swims in the swiming pool at the
Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds,
SANCCOB, after they fitted the defice on the outskirts of the city of
Cape Town, South Africa, Friday, July 15, 2011. South African
scientists are fitting young penguins raised by humans with satellite
transmitters so they can track them once released into the wild, hoping
to gather information that might one day lead to new breeding colonies
of the endangered birds.(AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)
A worker holds a African
Penguin as a cowoker prepairs the satellite transmitter, left, to be
palced on its back at the Southern African Foundation for the
Conservation of Coastal Birds, SANCCOB, situated on the outskirts of
the city of Cape Town, South Africa, Friday, July 15, 2011. South
African scientists are fitting young penguins raised by humans with
satellite transmitters so they can track them once released into the
wild, hoping to gather information that might one day lead to new
breeding colonies of the endangered birds.(AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)
By DONNA BRYSON, Associated Press
– July 15, 2011
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African scientists are fitting young
penguins raised by humans with satellite transmitters so they can track
them once released into the wild, hoping to gather information that
might one day lead to new breeding colonies of the endangered birds.
Researchers
used tape and glue to attach a transmitter the size of a matchbox to a
10-week-old African penguin Friday. The 3-kilogram (6.6-pound) bird
named Richie will be given a week to get used to swimming in a pool with
the 30-gram (1-ounce) device before he's released into the ocean from
the southern tip of Africa. The first penguin in the project was
released last month, and in all, five are to be released over a few
months.
The African penguin, endearingly awkward on land and a
gracefully efficient hunter in the water, is found only in southern
Africa. It also is known as the jackass penguin because of its braying
call. Tourists from around the world who have seen African penguins in a
colony near Cape Town may not realize just how rare sightings are
becoming.
The numbers of African penguins have plummeted from up
to 4 million in the early 1900s to 60,000 as of the last census in 2010,
said Venessa Strauss of the Southern African Foundation for the
Conservation of Coastal Birds. The foundation has raised the penguins
being used in the study.
Man is the reason for the drastic
decrease, she said. Humans collected penguin eggs for food, ending the
practice in the 1960s. The harvesting of penguin guano for fertilizer
stripped a hard layer of the substance in which adult birds had burrowed
to create nests safe from predators and the sun. More recently, a new
threat came with oil spills and commercial fishing's competition for the
anchovies and sardines on which penguins feed.
Richard Sherley of
the University of Cape Town's Animal Demography Unit recognizes his
South African team is in the very early stages of a long and complex
process. They hope tracking the young penguins will answer questions
about how early experiences influence the choice of breeding colonies.
"Not so much is known about the early life of African penguins," Sherley said.
The
tape and glue tracking device has been successfully used in studies
before. The groups said the device should stay on the penguin for enough
time, possibly months, to provide useful information.
Once
scientists know more about the birds' behavior, they will be able to
choose a sight for a breeding colony that will suit them, and that will
be protected and close to abundant stocks of food. Long-term plans
include setting up a hatchery.
Strauss's group raises chicks
abandoned by their parents or orphaned as a result of oil spills. They
strive not to tame the birds. The first one to be released, nicknamed
Lucy, was "as wild as anything," Strauss said.
"She bites. She's quite a meanie," she said.
The
birds need to be tough. In the wild, parents simply stop feeding the
chicks when they are big enough to begin fending for themselves,
anywhere from two to four months after hatching. The young birds wander
into the water in search of food, with no adults to teach them how to
forage.
The birds start breeding between the ages of 2 and 6.
Birds
raised by humans are sturdier because they are better fed. The Southern
African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds tests them in
the water to ensure they can swim well before they are released. But
beyond that, their release experience is the same as that of a wild
bird, Sherley said.
"The chick has to have an innate capacity to
find food when it hits the water," he said, adding that Lucy showed she
could do that.
Strauss said the researchers have already gathered
surprising data from Lucy about how far a young bird is able to swim.
Lucy has averaged 28 miles (45 kilometers) a day. Using special glue and
tape to affix tracking devices is standard procedure, and scientists
expect the device to stay on long enough to give them good information.
"It's fascinating, because we've never had this information," Strauss said. "It's crucial for us to know what happens to them."
Such
tracking might have given a fascinating look into the 2,000-mile
journey an emperor penguin took from Antarctica to end up stranded on a
New Zealand beach last month. The penguin, nicknamed "Happy Feet", is
recovering at the Wellington Zoo, where it underwent a medical procedure
to flush out much of the beach sand it swallowed, apparently mistaking
it for snow.
Wildlife officials plan to release the penguin in the Southern Ocean once he recovers.
Hopes
for the African penguin study and conservation project, which also
involve the South African government's Department of Environmental
Affairs, are strong. The participants look to other successful
conservation projects.
The plains of North America couldn't be
further removed from Africa's Cape, but conservationists there have
managed to bring back species from "unthinkable numbers" using animals
bred in captivity, said Martha Kauffman, director of the World Wildlife
Fund's Northern Great Plains program.
WWF researchers have
reasoned with wary ranchers, fought disease and struggled to find
habitats to bring the numbers of black-footed ferrets to about 1,000,
she said in an interview. In the 1980s, there were just 18.
"What's exciting is that we're making good progress," said Kauffman, who was not involved in the penguin project.
Olivier
Langrand, a bird expert with the wildlife group Conservation
International, cited dozens of examples, including successful efforts to
bring back the California condor and the Arabian oryx.
Success took money, expertise and time — sometimes decades, Langrand said in an interview.
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