Penguin chicks suffering from mystery disorder that leaves them bald

By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent
09 Apr 2011 Researchers have been left puzzled by the appearance of “naked” penguins on both sides of the South Atlantic. The condition, which is known as feather-loss disorder, has been found to afflict penguin chicks in colonies in both South Africa and on the coast of Argentina. Dee Boersma, from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) who is working with researchers in South Africa, Argentina and scientists at the University of Washington to study the condition, said there were fears the condition was spreading to different species. Naked penguin chicks were first spotted appearing in African black-footed penguin chicks and later in several colonies of Magellanic penguins in Argentina. … “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 Dr Boersma. “We need to learn how to stop the spread of feather-loss disorder, as penguins already have problems with oil pollution and climate variation.” …