Sixty-three endangered African penguins have been killed by a swarm of bees in a rare occurrence near Cape Town, bird conservationists in South Africa say.
The protected birds, from a colony in Simonstown, were found on a beach with multiple bee stings but no other injuries.
An official from the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds lamented the penguins’ deaths, noting the species is already in danger of extinction.
Cape honeybees are also part of the local ecosystem which features several conservation areas.
African penguins feature on the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
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In other news: Zambian president hailed for his ‘lean’ travel team
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema is earning some praise online for travelling with a “lean team” for the UN General Assembly in New York.
Mr Hichilema travelled to the UN meeting on a commercial Qatar Airways flight from the main airport in Lusaka.
He was accompanied by two ministers.
“Just like we promised before taking office, we will ensure prudent management of public resources and have therefore travelled with a lean team that is composed of Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Finance, Stanley Kakubo and Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane respectively,” he said in a statement
before leaving.
“This is a first in the region where [Zimbabwe’s President] Emmerson Mnangagwa and [Malawi’s Lazarus] Chakwera take planes packed with hangers on”, tweeted
Zimbabwe journalist Hopewell Chin’ono.
Another social media user wrote
: “Africa is coming up: Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema has left Zambia for the UN General Assembly, New York using a commercial flight”.
The Malawian president was in July criticised for taking his family members along on a UK trip but he said that they were needed for the event.
Source; BBC
