64 Endangered African Penguins Passed Away After Being Stung By Honeybees
In an unfortunate incident, dozens of endangered African penguins were killed in South Africa after being stung multiple times by Cape honeybees. A total of 64 penguins died.
On Friday, September 17, 2021, rangers from the South African National Parks organization (SANParks) discovered 63 of the 64 dead penguins from the Boulders breeding colony near Cape Town in Table Mountain National Park.
African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) are a protected species in South Africa. They are listed as endangered on the IUCN’s Red List. Around 42,000 mature individuals exist today.
“The deaths occurred suddenly sometime between Thursday afternoon and Friday morning,” said SANParks. “No external physical injuries were observed on any of the birds.”
The dead birds were moved to the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB). Necropsies were conducted on their bodies to determine why so many of them died.
“After tests, we found bee stings around the penguins’ eyes,” said David Roberts, a clinical veterinarian at SANCCOB. “There were also dead bees on the scene.”
The next morning, another dead penguin with stings around its eyes was found on a nearby beach. It also died from the initial bee attack.
Experts believed that a swarm of Cape honeybees (Apis mellifera capensis) attacked the penguins. However, it is unclear why the bees attacked the penguins or why they targeted the area around the birds’ eyes.
Such an occurrence is extremely rare. The penguins may have disturbed the bees’ nest, which led to the attack. The bees would have perceived the birds as a threat to their food supplies of honey and larvae.
peopleimages.com – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual penguin – pictured above is an African penguin
Cape honeybees are native to the southern tip of South Africa. About 10 percent of bees in a colony act as guards to protect the nest from intruders.
The bees deliver venom in their stings, but a single sting is unlikely to cause the deaths that took place in this incident.
Instead, the bees will release a sting alarm pheromone (SAP) when the nest is in danger. The pheromone attracts a large number of individuals, which can result in the sad outcome the penguins faced.
In the past 40 years, African penguins have experienced significant population declines due to overfishing of their native seas.
It is estimated that there were 80,000 pairs of African penguins in 1978. Since then, their numbers have declined by approximately 70 percent to 21,000 pairs.
The deaths of these penguins have raised concerns over the ability of the remaining birds to raise the eggs that have been laid.
“Losing over 60 healthy, and most likely breeding, adult African penguins is quite a blow for the Boulders colony as the species is already in trouble,” said a spokesperson for SANCCOB.
“Our Rangers and SANParks will monitor the nests in the area as some of these birds would have had eggs and chicks, and one partner often can’t supply sufficient food or leave the chicks alone.”
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