[Animals]Hundreds of dead penguins are washing up on New Zealand beaches

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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/little-blue-penguins-are-washing-dead-new-zealand-beaches-rcna34058

Little blue penguins — a flightless bird native to New Zealand and the world’s smallest penguin species — have been washing up dead on the country’s beaches, in what experts say are more frequent mass die-offs amid changing climate patterns. 

 

Hundreds of lifeless birds have been found in northern New Zealand since early May, though the exact number is difficult to determine and reports are still coming in, said Graeme Taylor, principal science adviser at the New Zealand Department of Conservation.

 

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The penguins, also known as korora, were tested for diseases and biotoxins, but appeared to have died from starvation, Taylor said. 

 

“All the birds were at least half the normal weight, they had no fat on them at all and their muscle tissue had wasted away.” 

 

It is not unusual for seabirds to die off in large numbers because of severe weather, conservationists say. But mass deaths among little blue penguins, which used to take place about once a decade, have now happened three times in six years, Taylor said. 

 

Car on the beach, Ninety Mile Beach, New Zealand

Ninety Mile Beach on New Zealand’s North Island, where the most recent sighting of dead penguins occurred.DPK / Alamy file

Experts in New Zealand, where the little blue penguin is considered “at risk,” expected a mortality event this summer due to La Niña, a climate pattern that affects weather around the world and typically occurs every three to five years. 

 

The ongoing event is favored to continue through the end of the year, according to forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This puts it on track to be the third consecutive fall and winter season with La Niña conditions, a rare occurrence. 

 

La Niña has combined with a marine heat wave to create a “double whammy” for the penguins, raising sea temperatures which in turn makes it more difficult for them to find the small fish they feed on, Taylor said. The fish may have moved south or descended to colder waters below the penguins’ diving range.