Researchers from the National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC) and the Argentine Antarctic Institute have detected the first cases of the feather loss syndrome in Antarctic penguins.
In January 2014, in Esperanza Bay, home to one of the largest Adélie penguin colonies –Pygoscelis adeliae– with about 120,000 pairs, a chick barely 20 days old was observed during a routine census showing areas of skin without plumage. The animal died two days later despite not showing any symptoms of other diseases.
Andrés Barbosa, a researcher at the MNCN, explains the implications of this pathology in Antarctica: “Despite being a very remote part of the world, the disease has reached the colonies of these birds in Antarctica, which is one more threat against penguins . Precisely the Adelie penguin is a very vulnerable species to climate change, which is greatly reducing its distribution areas in the Antarctic peninsula ”.
A few days later, a kilometer away from where the first affected chicken was, the researchers observed another hatchling that had lost its head plumage. They could not examine the animal to assess whether it was this pathology or a lice problem but they did not see the chick again during the two weeks they were working in the area.
“The most probable thing is that it died because of the syndrome of the loss of plumage”, points Barbosa. “We still do not know how the disease reached the Esperanza Bay colony, but if the cause is a pathogen, it is possible that only immunosuppressed penguins develop the disease,” explains the researcher.
“The syndrome of the loss of plumage does not seem very contagious, but it is essential to discover why this disease occurs in order to know the potential risk for the fauna of Antarctica and adopt, if necessary, protective measures”, concludes Barbosa. This disease causes the feathers of the baby penguins to fall and leaves the skin without the protection against the cold that the plumage provides, which causes the death of the chickens.
The syndrome had previously been detected in African penguins –Spheniscus demersus– in 2006 and in Magellan penguins –Spheniscus magellanicus– in 2007.
