'Naked' Penguins Baffle Experts

[n2doc]

ScienceDaily (Apr. 8, 2011) — Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society, the University of Washington, and other groups are grappling with a wildlife mystery: Why are some penguin chicks losing their feathers?


The appearance of "naked" penguins -- afflicted with what is known as feather-loss disorder -- in penguin colonies on both sides of the South Atlantic in recent years has scientists puzzled as to what could be causing the condition.

A study on the disorder appears in a recent edition of the journal Waterbirds. The authors of the paper are: Olivia J. Kane, Jeffrey R. Smith, and P. Dee Boersma of the Wildlife Conservation Society and the University of Washington; Nola J. Parsons and Vanessa Strauss of the South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds; and Pablo Garcia-Borboroglu and Cecilia Villanueva of Centro Nacional Patagónico.

"Feather-loss disorders are uncommon in most bird species, and we need to conduct further study to determine the cause of the disorder and if this is in fact spreading to other penguin species," said Boersma, who has conducted studies on Magellanic penguins for more than three decades.


more

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110408140924.htm

[Control-Z]

1. Aw. What a little cutie,

feathers or not.

I hope these Penguins recover quickly. It must get really cold for them without feathers.

[nashville_brook]

2. can i adopt a featherless penguin?

i really really want one. that's got to be (simultaneously) cutest and most heartbreaking photo ever.

[buzzard]

3. If you like penguins this will make you smile.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDN3L621ASI

[SheilaT]

4. The penguin equivalent of alopecia areata?

In humans, that's an auto-immune disorder that causes hair loss. Maybe this is quite similar, only it's feathers that are lost in the penguins.

[emmadoggy]

5. It's the Global Warming... the penguins are just adapting.

:evilfrown:

Poor little things. I hope they figure it out.