• 21/05/2022
• By wizewebsite
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They found over 60 penguins stung by bees on a beach in South Africa<

Over 60 penguins stung by bees were found on a beach in South Africa

Veterinarian David Roberts, who works there, said in an interview with AFP that the birds died after being stung by bees.

People found them on Friday on the beach near Simon's Town, which is about 40 kilometers from Cape Town. Stings were visible around the eyes and there were also a number of dead bees on the beach.

Experts examined the penguins' bodies and looked for other possible causes of death, such as poisoning or disease.

According to Roberts, this is a "strange and unusual" case in which members of an endangered species were killed in a protected area of ​​the national park. Bees are also part of the ecosystem there.

The largest community of spectacled penguins, also called African penguins, lives in the Republic of South Africa. They bring out their young on the beaches, often on remote islands and in inaccessible bays.

At Simon's Town, however, they are in places where you can meet them, and you can bathe where they are.

Adults have a white stripe on their head that extends to their chest, which is how the species got its name. Above the eyes and beak, these penguins have unfeathered skin, which are glands used for thermoregulation.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies them as a species threatened with extinction. In 2019, 13,000 pairs were mapped worldwide, most of them in South Africa and neighboring Namibia.