Hundreds of penguins have been jet-lifted to their native home in the Southern Atlantic Ocean, after washing up lost and tired on the beaches of Northern Brazil.
At least 1,000 penguins this year to date, have washed up on Brazilian beaches. Though it is normal for penguins to travel North from their South Atlantic home in search of food, it is rare that they swim all the way to northern states of Brazil, and authorities are amazed that the penguins just keep coming.
Some experts have offered that because the migration of penguins is closely related to their food supply, this unusual journey suggests that something has gone awry with their normal fish stocks.
No one knows whether changes in water temperatures and ocean currents are to blame, or man-made pollution.
Some of the birds were found covered in oil. Other birds were found to have been eating fish that are not part of their usual diet.
Hundreds of penguins were flown this week in a Hercules plane down to more southern seas, where they are being released into the ocean. Other birds are catching a ride home on a navy vessel. Still others, tired from their journey, are laying over in the Brazilian state of Bahia until they recover.
Source: BBC
Photo: WikiMedia Creative Commons
Meg Hamill
Meg Hamill has been working in the environmental non-profit field in Northern California for the past six years. She currently works as a naturalist for LandPaths (in partnership with the Open Space District) in Santa Rosa California. She teaches poetry in the public school through California Poets in the Schools (CPITS) and has traveled extensively throughout South and Central America, picking up Spanish along the way. In 1999 she completed a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. Meg holds an MFA in Creative Writing and has published two books of political/environmental poetry. Read more, buy books and e-mail Meg at www.meghamill.com.