Port Elizabeth, South Africa: 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 round the penguins’ eyes,” said the foundation’s David Roberts, a clinical veterinarian.
“This may be a very rare occurence. We don’t 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, alittle town near Cape Town .
The area may be a park and therefore the Cape honey bees are a part of the ecosystem.
“The penguins… must not die a bit like that as they’re already in peril of extinction. they’re a protected species,” said Roberts.
The South African National Parks said the birds were taken to the inspiration 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.