Monday, January 5, 2015

Tourism in Antarctica is putting in jeopardy penguins

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About 10,000 people travel every year to the Antarctic, for tourism or research, and bring something more than cameras. According to a team of scientists led by Wray Grimaldi, the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, were found several infectious agents in the penguins-bacteria such as salmonella and e. Coli, virus as West Nile or Avipoxvirus have been found in captive penguins since 1947-what is jeopardising the fragile local biodiversity.

"The effects of the growth of the tourism industry and the presence of researchers will have consequences. The Penguins are highly susceptible to infectious diseases, "explained the New Scientist Grimaldi.

The scientist explains that outbreaks of these bacteria and virus have killed thousands of penguins over the years. The boots of tourists and researchers are one of the main vectors of transmission.

Another theory for this puts migrant animals the cause of these outbreaks, once the milder climate have attracted biodiversity never before seen in this region.

Foto: David Stanley/Creative Commons

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