SOUTH AFRICA – With less than 25,000 breeding pairs in existence today, it is an uphill battle for South Africa's African penguin. The 60% drop in their population since 2001 has put them on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's endangered species list. In some colonies, the drop in population has been as high as 80%. Competition with fisheries, oil spills, climate change, diseases and predators are all contributing factors in their dramatic decline.
To preserve this species and optimise rehabilitation efforts, epidemiologist Adam Schaefer from Florida Atlantic University in the USA joined forces with scientists Nola Parsons and Ralph Vanstreels from the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB). The facility, located near Cape Town, South Africa, receives more than 900 African penguins for rehabilitation each year. While the success rate for the overall release of these penguins back into the wild is about 75%, limited data exists on the factors that contribute to their successful rehabilitation.
To better understand how to improve the rehabilitation of African penguins, the researchers conducted a first-of-its-kind study on prognostic health indicators such as body mass, blood analysis, and infectious disease exposure. For the study, they analysed 3,657 adult African penguins that were admitted to the SANCCOB facility for rehabilitation between 2002 and 2013.
African penguins. Photo credit: Ralph E.T. Vanstreels, D.V.M., Ph.D |
To better understand how to improve the rehabilitation of African penguins, the researchers conducted a first-of-its-kind study on prognostic health indicators such as body mass, blood analysis, and infectious disease exposure. For the study, they analysed 3,657 adult African penguins that were admitted to the SANCCOB facility for rehabilitation between 2002 and 2013.