Honeybee swarm kills 63 African penguins
[ad_1]
Sixty-three endangered African penguins were the victims of a tragic attack last week. The culprits: a swarm of Cape honeybees.
Continue reading below
Our Featured Videos
African penguins who live on the islands and along the coast of Namibia and South Africa have already been the casualties of hunting, fishing, mining, oil and gas drilling and climate change. But this was the first time they faced massacre by bee. And it happened inside what’s supposed to be their safe space, the Boulders Penguin Colony in Simon’s Town, South Africa.
Related: About 90% of world’s largest king penguin colony has mysteriously disappeared
At first, investigators blamed predators. Then they noticed the stings around the birds’ eyes. The skin around penguins’ eyes is especially thin, thanks to pink sweat glands located there. One of the fallen penguins sustained 27 stings. “Seeing the number of stings in individual birds, it would have probably been deadly for any animal of that size,” Katta Ludynia of the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) told the BBC. The bees also stung the penguins’ flippers — another vulnerable, non-feathered body part.
Thank you!
Keep an eye out for our weekly newsletter.
Join Our Newsletter
Receive the latest in global news and designs building a better future.
Why the bees attacked is still a mystery. “The bees don’t sting unless provoked ― we are working on the assumption that a nest or hive in the area was disturbed and caused a mass of bees to flee the nest, swarm and became aggressive,” said Alison Kock, a marine biologist with South Africa’s national parks agency. “Unfortunately the bees encountered a group of penguins on their flight path.”
The time of death was between last Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. The deceased penguins were sent to SANCCOB for post-mortems and toxicology testing. Other than the stings, the penguins had no visible external injuries. Honeybees die after they sting. Investigators found dead bees at the scene of the crime. The penguins seem to have been a target of the hive mind. “Once a honeybee has stung something, it leaves a pheromone behind so that the target is easily located by other honeybees defending the nest,” said Jenny Cullinan of the African Wild Bee Institute, as reported by the BBC. The institute is asking nearby residents to no longer have beehives in their gardens.
[ad_2]
Original Post
I really appreciate this post. I’ve been looking everywhere for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You have made my day! Thx again
I¦ve been exploring for a little for any high-quality articles or blog posts in this sort of house . Exploring in Yahoo I finally stumbled upon this website. Reading this info So i am happy to show that I have an incredibly good uncanny feeling I discovered just what I needed. I so much certainly will make certain to don¦t fail to remember this website and provides it a glance on a relentless basis.
excellent points altogether, you just gained a new reader. What could you suggest in regards to your put up that you made some days in the past? Any positive?
Having read this I thought it was very informative. I appreciate you taking the time and effort to put this article together. I once again find myself spending way to much time both reading and commenting. But so what, it was still worth it!
Hello, i think that i saw you visited my website thus i came to “return the favor”.I am trying to find things to improve my site!I suppose its ok to use some of your ideas!!
Howdy! Quick question that’s totally off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My blog looks weird when viewing from my apple iphone. I’m trying to find a theme or plugin that might be able to resolve this problem. If you have any recommendations, please share. With thanks!
What Is FitSpresso? As you may know, FitSpresso is a natural weight loss supplement that comes in capsule form.
Simply wanna comment on few general things, The website layout is perfect, the content is very wonderful : D.
Hi there very cool web site!! Man .. Excellent .. Wonderful .. I’ll bookmark your web site and take the feeds additionally?KI am happy to find a lot of helpful information right here in the put up, we need develop more strategies on this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .
There’s noticeably a bundle to find out about this. I assume you made sure nice points in features also.