Oh wo n’t someonepleasethink of the penguins ? They ’re really having a tough sentence now , and they really do n’t deserve it . Volcanic eruptionsand iceberg collapses are already killing off quite a few of them , and now – as reported in the journalCurrent Biology – climate variety and sportfishing are formally penguin antagonists .
African penguins(Spheniscus demersus ) can found along the southern tip of the eponymic continent . No more than 70 centimeters ( 28 inch ) tall , these lightweight bird waddle and float around the shores of South Africa , lead to familiar hunting spots to get fish to eat .
However , thanks to the proliferation of fishing and anthropogenetic change to the temperature , salinity , and acidity of the seawater around South Africa , there are n’t as many fish as there used to be in these hunt spots .
According to researcher from the University of Exeter , we have inadvertently make “ bionomical traps ” for them , and the future ’s not seem good .
base on current population rates , the squad of researchers predict that breeding numbers of African penguins are 50 percent low today , compared to situations where these adorable birds are able to adapt and find novel , quarry - fill up hunting grounds .
“ Juvenile African penguins see for area of low ocean temperatures and high chlorophyl - a , which indicates the front of plankton and therefore the fish which feed on it , ” written report lead author Dr Richard Sherley , a preservation life scientist in the Environment and Sustainability Institute at the University of Exeter , said in astatement . “ These were once true cues for prey - rich waters , but climate change and industrial fishing have depleted forage fish stocks in this system . ”
Richard Sherley size up a jejune African penguin . Timothee Cook / University of Exeter
Working intimately with government scientists from South Africa and Namibia , orbiter trackers were attached to 54 juvenile penguins from eight different colony . This allow the team to track the entire species ’ breeding statistical distribution and see how the dependency was fare over time .
As their normal dieting of sardines and anchovies had begun to combine much further east than they used to , multiple colonies are having difficulty surviving and accordingly producing viable offspring . Their numbers are declining , and it ’s not clear if they will be able-bodied to adjust to these changes before it ’s too latterly .
African penguin are already relegate as endangered – their population numbers have infix freefall for some prison term now . This survey points out that we are indirectly doing everything we can do worsen this .
“ Our results support suspending sportfishing when prey biomass drop below certain level , and suggest that mitigating marine bionomical traps will need major conservation action , ” Sherley added .
Sigh . Sorry penguin . I know we suck , but just hang in there .
