Mortality and survival of African penguins Spheniscus demersus involved in the Apollo Sea oil spill: an evaluation of rehabilitation efforts
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Published source details
Underhill L.G., Bartlett P.A., Baumann L., Crawford R.J.M., Dyer B.M., Gildenhuys A., Nel D.C., Oatley T.B., Thornton M., Upfold L., Williams A.J., Whittington P.A. & Wolfaardt A.C. (1999) Mortality and survival of African penguins Spheniscus demersus involved in the Apollo Sea oil spill: an evaluation of rehabilitation efforts. Ibis, 141, 29-37.
Published source details Underhill L.G., Bartlett P.A., Baumann L., Crawford R.J.M., Dyer B.M., Gildenhuys A., Nel D.C., Oatley T.B., Thornton M., Upfold L., Williams A.J., Whittington P.A. & Wolfaardt A.C. (1999) Mortality and survival of African penguins Spheniscus demersus involved in the Apollo Sea oil spill: an evaluation of rehabilitation efforts. Ibis, 141, 29-37.
Actions
This study is summarised as evidence for the following.
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Clean birds following oil spills Action Link |
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Clean birds following oil spills
A replicated study of African penguin Spheniscus demersus survival between 1994 and 1996 following a 1994 oil spill near Cape Town, South Africa (Underhill et al. 1999) found that 65% of 4,076 penguins collected, cleaned, banded and released were re-sighted within two years of release. The majority of these (73%) were seen in the first year but new sightings continued until the end of the study period. The number of dead birds reported (24 from monitoring teams, 25 by the public) was very close to the number expected from previous studies and the authors argue that large-scale mortality of penguins was unlikely to have occurred.
