In a bizarre event that has left conservationists devastated, sixty-three African Penguins died overnight late last week after being attacked by a swarm of bees.
With the African Penguin already being an endangered animal, this rare event has left local wildlife experts heartbroken and worried for the future of the colony .
The 63 dead penguins were found at the Boulders African penguin colony in Simonstown late last week.
“On Friday morning, 17 September 2021, 63 African penguins were found dead inside the Boulders African Penguin colony – Simonstown,” wrote Table Mountain National Park representatives on the park’s official Facebook page.
They also explained that the penguin deaths had occurred suddenly between Thursday afternoon and Friday evening.
The penguins were sent for post-mortems where it was found that they had died from multiple bee stings.
Multiple bee stings were the only injuries found on the penguins following post-mortems conducted by local veterinarians. There were also many dead bees found in the colony, which lead National Park Officials to believe that a swarm of bees had suddenly attacked the penguin colony.
Officials are not sure what prompted the attack.
“Usually the penguins and bees co-exist,” claimed one of the biologists at the national park.
“The bees don’t sting unless provoked — we are working on the assumption that a nest or hive in the area was disturbed and caused a mass of bees to flee the nest, swarm and became aggressive,” Dr Alison Kock told the BBC . Dr Kock works with with South Africa’s national parks agency as a marine biologist.
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“Unfortunately the bees encountered a group of penguins on their flight path,” Dr Kock continued.
The penguins were largely stung around the flippers and eyes, with one bird having been stung 27 times.
The penguins showed signs of stinging around the eyes and flippers as they do not have feathers in these places. Due to the small stature of African Penguins, multiple stings such as this would have been deadly to the penguins.
Dr Kock and other workers at the national park are continuing to monitor the freak situation.
Local visitors of the Table Mountain National Park have been devastated by the news.
Some of the responses from the local public included the likes of:
“Oh what a tragedy! Love these guys.”
“Such a tragedy. It’s one of our favourite destinations when we are in Cape Town. I hope this colony will recover.”
“Hope the bees have been moved to a different location for the safety of the remaining colony as well as visitors. A very sad incident but that’s nature.”
With the African Penguin already being an endangered species, this is a tragic blow for the species.
Some samples takes from the penguins are still being tested to rule out any other toxicity or disease-related factors which may have lead to their death.
Hopefully, with the help of the national park’s conservationists, this colony will be able to survive this horrific event.
h/t: BBC
