MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
More than 500 penguins found dead of beaches of south Brazil
Dead penguins close to Porto Alegre 
A young fellow holds up a penguin even at the Porto da Lenha beach in Salvador More than 500 penguins have been found dead on beaches of Brazil's southern Rio Grande do Sul state, authorities said Friday.
The Centre of Coastal and Marine Studies (Ceclimar) said veterinarians were investigating the deaths of the 512 marine animals which beached on the coast between the towns of Tramandai and Cidreira, some 100 kilometres from the state capital, Porto Alegre.
Some 30 samples from the penguins were being analyzed at Porto Alegre University and results were to be released within a month, it added.
Ceclimar officials told Globo's G1 website that veterinarians were puzzled by the large quantity of animals found and by the fact that they appeared well fed, not exhausted and without injuries or oil stains.
These Magellenic penguins, named after the Magallenes region in which they breed, mate in large colonies in southern Argentina, Falkland Islands and Chile.
They traditionally migrate north between March and September along the Rio Grande do Sul coast to head up to Sao Paulo.
Their diet consists mainly of small fish and marine crustaceans and their chief enemy is the southern sea lion.
Since the beginning of July penguins were also sighted among surfers close to the beaches of Rio do Janerio, 1.200 kilometres further north.
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Read all comments“More than 500 penguins found dead of beaches of south Brazil”
Jul 14th, 2012 - 01:15 am 0MercoStanley says.
I say 5 000 000 penguins were found dead on beaches of Malvinas and the rich elite there didn't care.
@1
Jul 14th, 2012 - 03:36 am 0Plonker !
Marcos, you seem to be unaware of what realistic penguin populations are. Magellanic penguins: approx 1 million birds. Gentoo: 314,000 pairs (early 1990s). Rockhopper penguins: 1.1 million pairs (after a decrease of 24% in the past 30 yrs). Bearing in mind that these are global populations, not just Falkland numbers, it is hard to see where your 5 million dead penguins came from.
Jul 14th, 2012 - 05:42 am 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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