Well that’s an absurd amount of any dead animal to wash up onto any coast
Well that’s ominous…
Bird flu?
Read the article?
First Paragraph:
[…] which does not appear to be avian influenza
Third paragraph:
[…] she stressed that all samples taken have tested negative for avian influenza
Sea too warm for them?
It seems like the opposite. The sources in the article are pointing to over-fishing leading to less resources available for these penguins to feed on, and ultimately they are not able to store enough fat reserves to protect them from the winter sea temperatures.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-24/antarctic-sea-ice-levels-nosedive-five-sigma-event/102635204
This article suggests lack of krill due.to.loss of.sea ice.where it feeds.
Also.wonder.if.no ice shelf could affect nesting grounds.
“This is mortality in the water. Ninety percent are young specimens that arrive without fat reserves and with empty stomachs,” she said, and stressed that all samples taken have tested negative for avian influenza. “It is normal for some percentage to die, but not these numbers,” Leizagoyen said, recalling that a similar die-off occurred last year in Brazil, for undetermined reasons.
Environmental advocates attribute the increase in Magellanic penguin deaths to overfishing and illegal fishing. “From the 1990s and 2000s we began to see animals with a lack of food. The resource is overexploited,” Richard Tesore, of the NGO SOS Marine Wildlife Rescue, told AFP.
That sucks. We really need good regulations and enforcement for this stuff.
