Hundreds of baby penguins found dead in Brazil
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil —
Hundreds of infant. penguins swept from the indifferent shores of Antarctica and Patagonia are washing up dead onward Rio de Janeiro’s tropical beaches, rescuers and penguin experts said Friday.
More than 400 penguins, most of them youthful, have been found dead without interruption the beaches of Rio de Janeiro state over the past two months, according to Eduardo Pimenta, superintendent for the state coastal protection and environment influence in the resort city of Cabo Frio.
While it is common here to find other thing penguins - the two cold and cheerful - swept by strong sea currents from the Strait of Magellan, Pimenta said there have been more this year than at any time in recent memory.
Rescuers and those who treat penguins are divided over the possible causes.
Thiago Muniz, a horse-doctor at the Niteroi Zoo, reported he believed overfishing has forced the penguins to swim further from shore to find fish to eat “and that leaves them more vulnerable to getting caught up in the strong ocean currents.”
Niteroi, the explain’s biggest zoo, already has even now received about 100 penguins for treatment this year and multiplied are drenched in petroleum, Muniz said. The Campos oil field that supplies most of Brazil’s oil lies offshore.
Muniz before-mentioned he hadn’t seen penguins suffering from the effects of other pollutants, but he pointed out that already flat penguins aren’t brought in for method of treating.
Pimenta suggested pollution is to blame.
“Aside from the oil in the Campos basin, the pollution is lowering the animals’ immunity, leaving them capable of being wounded to funguses and bacteria that oppugn their lungs,” Pimenta said, quoting biologists who work with him.
But biologist Erli Costa of Rio de Janeiro’s Federal University suggested weather patterns could be involved.
“I don’t think the levels of pollutedness are turbulent enough to affect the birds so quickly. I think instead we’re seeing greater quantity young and sick penguins because of global warming, which affects ocean currents and creates more cyclones, making the seas rougher,” Costa said.
Costa reported the vast majority of penguins turning up are baby birds that have just left the nest and are unable to out-swim the biting ocean currents they encounter while searching for food.
Every year, Brazil airlifts dozens of penguins back to Antarctica or Patagonia.
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