Scientists Save Penguin Chicks

African penguins are critically endangered, their colonies reduced by 70 percent in the last decade. Commercial fishing is to blame, emptying the penguins’ ocean range of the small, schooling fish that are their main food source. With penguin chicks’ growth and health in crisis, a hands-on rescue strategy could sustain struggling colonies while conservationists work to ensure the species’ survival.



Science Bulletins is a production of the National Center for Science Literacy, Education, and Technology (NCSLET), part of the Department of Education at the American Museum of Natural History.



Related Links



PLOS ONE: Hand-Rearing, Release and Survival of African Penguin Chicks Abandoned Before Independence by Moulting Parents

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0110794



The Chick Bolstering Project

http://www.sanccob.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=26:chick-bolstering-project&catid=5:projects&Itemid=37



Dyer Island Conservation Trust: African Penguins

http://www.dict.org.za/penguins.php



IUCN Redlist: African Penguin

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22697810/0



Science Bulletins

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American Museum of Natural History



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IFAW-WTI

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Mehgan Murphy/ Smithsonian's National Zoo

SANCCOB

WCS Guatemala Program



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