An unexpected death.
A swarm of honey bees in South Africa are believed to be the main culprits that are behind the death of 63 endangered penguins.
According to reports by government officials and a non-profit organization, the swarm of honey bees killed the endangered penguins by stinging them in their eyes.
The incident happened in Simon’s Town, which is around 25 miles away from Cape Town City.
According to a statement that was released by the government-run South African National Parks (SANParks), the penguins were found within the Boulders African Penguin Colony.
Veterinarians from the SANParks Cape Town and specialists from the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) are looking into the cause of death.
SANCCOB’s David Roberts, a clinical veterinarian, said:
After tests, we found bee stings around the penguins’ eyes. This is a very rare occurrence. We do not expect it to happen often, it’s a fluke. There were also dead bees on the scene,’ he said on Sunday.
The bodies of the penguins were transported to SANCCOB for further analysis.
Initial post-mortem analysis indicates that the penguins were not harmed in any single way.
However, there were multiple bee stings in all the carcasses.
SANParks officials said in a statement:
Preliminary investigations suggest that the penguins died because of being stung by a swarm of Cape honey bees.
It remains a mystery on why the bees stung the penguins.
The researchers have also taken samples from the bird carcasses to find toxicity possibilities or any other disease to rule out the cause of their deaths.