Over 1500 Dead Penguins Found In Chile

Over 1500 Dead Penguins Found In Chile

March 29, 2009 at 10:55pm

Authorities in Chile are investigating what caused the death of nearly 15 hundred penguins found in a southern bay.The dead birds were discovered yesterday on a beach more than 12 hundred miles north of Antarctica.Navy officials say experts from nearby Austral University are working to determine what killed the penguins.They did not know immediately where the penguins were from and sayIt's not unusual for some penguin species to migrate thousands of miles.

Video here at source, Fox News @

http://www.keyc.com/node/19711
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

800 DEAD PENGUINS FOUND IN SOUTHERN CHILE
Written by LA TERCERA
Sunday, 29 March 2009

In just the past few days, hundreds of dead magellanic penguins (Spheniscus Magellanicus) have washed ashore in Chile’s Region XI, the daily La Tercera reported Sunday.

So far experts are in the dark about what’s killing the sea birds, more than 800 of which have been found on the beaches of Las Niñas and Los Piojos near Queule.

Rodrigo Zambrano, a maritime official in Valdivia (Region XIV), said the penguins do not appear to be poisoned in any way. He said magellanic penguins are periodically killed by fishing boat nets, but never by the hundreds.

Four of the bird carcasses have been sent to Valdivia’s Universidad Austral for testing.

Magellanic penguins are native to the waters around Chile and Argentina. Although they are not an endangered species, they are vulnerable to oil spills and – according to a penguin expert from the University of Washington – climate change.

Rising temperatures are displacing fish, forcing magellanic penguins to swim an average of 25 miles further from their nests in search of food, professor Dee Boersma discovered. The extra “commute” is also shortening their breeding period, she found.

SOURCE: LA TERCERA of the Patagonia Times@

http://www.patagoniatimes.cl/index.php/20090329780/News/Environment/800-DEAD-PENGUINS-FOUND-IN-SOUTHERN-CHILE.html

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

1,500 penguins found dead in Chilean bay
03/30/2009 | 12:02 AM

SANTIAGO, Chile – Chilean authorities say they are investigating what caused the deaths of nearly 1,500 penguins found in a southern bay.

They say the dead birds were found Saturday at Caleta Queule, more than 1,240 miles (2,000 kilometers) north of Antarctica.

Navy Lt. Rodrigo Zambrano says experts from the nearby University of Valdivia are working to determine what killed the penguins. They did not know immediately where the penguins were from.

University veterinarian Roberto Schlatter tells state television that experts also are trying to establish the penguins' ages and their species.

It is not unusual for some penguin species to migrate thousands of miles. - AP

Source: GMA News @
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/154717/1500-penguins-found-dead-in-Chilean-bay