A swarm of bees has killed 63 endangered African penguins on a beach outside Cape Town, the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds said on Sunday.

"After tests, we found bee stings around the penguins' eyes," said the foundation's David Roberts, a clinical veterinarian.

"This is a very rare occurence. We do not expect it to happen often, its a fluke.

"There were also dead bees on the scene," he told AFP by telephone.

The protected birds, found on Friday, were from a colony at Simonstown, a small town near Cape Town.

The area is a national park and the Cape honey bees are part of the ecosystem.

"The penguins... must not die just like that as they are already in danger of extinction. They are a protected species," said Roberts.

The South African National Parks said the birds were taken to the foundation for post-mortems and samples sent for disease and toxicology testing.

"There were no external physical injuries found on any of the birds," a parks statement said.

The post-mortems showed all the penguins had multiple bee stings.

African penguins, which inhabit the coast and islands of southern Africa, are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's red list, meaning they face a high risk of extinction.

Related Links
Darwin Today At TerraDaily.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

UNESCO announces 20 new biospheres in 21 countries
Abuja (AFP) Sept 15, 2021
UNESCO on Wednesday added 20 new sites in 21 countries to its global network of biosphere reserves, the UN agency's designation for specially protected regions. New biosphere reserves are designated each year to promote sustainable development, protect terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems and encourage conservation. For the first time, Lesotho, Libya and Saudi Arabia joined the list. In Lesotho, the Matseng Biosphere Reserve covers an area of 112,033 hectares in the northern highland ... read more