Scientists have recently been left bewildered after a hundred tiny penguins were reported washed up dead closed to a busy beach and haunted residents there an intolerable stink.
The bodies were owned by the world's tiniest penguin species and were mysteriously discovered in a pile and the far north of New Zealand in Cable Bay, Daily Star reported.
Pauline Wilson, one of the locals there, said she thought at first that the smell was associated with dead possum, although she decided to investigate after it continued to worsen.
In an initiative to identify the culprit, the neighbors of Wilson started to search the area until one discovered the penguins close to the Department of Conservation vehicle track on Friday evening.
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A Magellanic penguin and a chick are seen in a nest at Punta Clara, some 18 km from Punta Tombo National Reserve in the Patagonian province of Chubut, Argentina, on December 5, 2021.
100 Dead Penguins
Also, according to Wilson, perhaps, there were 100 penguins there, and "they're in piles."
Pauline said: "There's probably over 100 there - they're in a thick pile."
According to a report from The Mirror, the Department of Conservation and the Ministry of Primary Industries have been notified of the discovery.
While Wilson explained that it was not unusual to discover a few dead penguins on Cable Bay's beaches around this time of the year, when juveniles frequently died due to natural causes, she did not understand the sheer number of penguins being discovered at once.
She didn't understand why animals, which, according to their level of decomposition, had died around the same time, had been abandoned in such a way.
Describing the recent penguin finds, Wilson said, "You wouldn't think if they were caught in fishing nets," they would have been dumped overboard.
Effect of Climate Change
The resident hoped that publicity around this discovery would prompt people to come forward with information on what had happened.
The Department of Conservation of New Zealand said the natural deaths of the penguins, which were natively known as korora, could be worsened by climate change.
Essentially, La Niña weather conditions, which had persisted into winter in Aotearoa, had also affected the rate of deaths of penguins.
Moreover, warmer waters are driving the fish that penguins live on into cooler, deeper waters, which in turn, are making it more difficult for the said animals to find food.
Previous Discoveries
Over 40 dead little penguins have also been discovered washed up on Tokerau Bay from May 2 to 8, just around very near Cable Bay, according to a department spokesperson.
Based on an investigation carried out by the Ministry for Primary Industries, a lack of blubber for the birds to keep warm suggested that the korora had suffered from starvation and hypothermia.
A related Canada Express News report specified that these were not the first and only couple of cases of dead penguins being discovered en masse in New Zealand this year.
Late last month, the bodies of over 100 little blue penguins were also discovered on Ninety Mile Beach, particularly Te One-roa-a-Tohe, resorts on social media have reported.
Related information about penguins becoming endangered species is shown on Bioexpedition's YouTube video below:
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