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Unknown cause for mass penguin deaths <!--start of components/story_attributes--><!--end of components/story_attributes-->
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MICHAEL DALY<!--end of components/story/credit--><!--start of components/toolbox-->
Last updated 12:40 12/02/2013
Tests are being carried out this week to determine what caused the deaths of more than 40 adult yellow-eyed penguins on the Otago Peninsula.
Officials are hoping the die-off does not become as bad as that of 1990 when almost 150 adult penguins died.
Department of Conservation (DOC) officer David Agnew said it took the penguin population in the area several years to recover from that event.
It was hoped the deaths were being caused by a biotoxin occurring naturally in the marine environment, and for now it was assumed the fish the penguins were eating was making them ill.
"We're hoping that whatever is causing it, perhaps weather conditions affecting the water column, will dissipate so the penguins will return to normal, and hopefully penguin adults will stop dying," Agnew said.
The first dead penguin was found on January 21, and the most-recent were found on the weekend, although some of the latest birds had been dead for some time.
More...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/8292911/Unknown-cause-for-mass-penguin-deaths
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MICHAEL DALY<!--end of components/story/credit--><!--start of components/toolbox-->
Last updated 12:40 12/02/2013
Tests are being carried out this week to determine what caused the deaths of more than 40 adult yellow-eyed penguins on the Otago Peninsula.
Officials are hoping the die-off does not become as bad as that of 1990 when almost 150 adult penguins died.
Department of Conservation (DOC) officer David Agnew said it took the penguin population in the area several years to recover from that event.
It was hoped the deaths were being caused by a biotoxin occurring naturally in the marine environment, and for now it was assumed the fish the penguins were eating was making them ill.
"We're hoping that whatever is causing it, perhaps weather conditions affecting the water column, will dissipate so the penguins will return to normal, and hopefully penguin adults will stop dying," Agnew said.
The first dead penguin was found on January 21, and the most-recent were found on the weekend, although some of the latest birds had been dead for some time.
More...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/8292911/Unknown-cause-for-mass-penguin-deaths