The Effects That Oil Spills Have on Penguins

Loss of Insulation

• Because penguins don't fly, must hunt underwater for fish and return to the surface often to breathe, becoming coated with oil from the surface is unavoidable. Once a penguin's feathers are covered in oil, it loses much of its ability to insulate itself. Many penguins die from hypothermia as a result of this.

Ingestion

• When penguins' feathers are coated with oil in the wake of a spill, they attempt to clean themselves with their beaks. This leads to the birds' swallowing the oil, which damages internal organs including lungs, intestines and kidneys, as well as breathing in the fumes, further causing the toxic substance to damage their lungs. Even if penguins are not killed from poisoning, whether from direct contact or feeding on contaminated fish, ingesting oil can have other adverse effects on them. Penguins can no longer float once they have swallowed large amounts of oil, for example, and so can no longer hunt for fish, leading to starvation and/or hypothermia brought on by serious weight loss.

Endangerment

• Oil is a major contributing factor to species of penguins becoming endangered. Once an oil spill has occurred, the aftereffects are suffered by living birds, whose numbers become greatly reduced, and also by their eggs, causing problems for the next generation. The eggs may never hatch, as the developing chick can be harmed inside the egg, or chicks that do hatch may be mortally deformed.

  A recent example of the effect that an oil spill can have on endangered penguin species occurred in March 2011. A U.K. charity, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, reported that more than 10,000 endangered rockhopper penguins may have become covered in oil as the result of the M.S. Olivia running aground near the South Atlantic's Nightingale Island, home to almost half of these endangered birds.

Rescue and Treatment

• When penguins are rescued from areas affected by an oil spill, they often are taken to a safe place to be cleaned with common substances such as household dish detergent. Rescued penguins are given charcoal to absorb ingested oil, and may be hand-fed with much needed vitamins and fluids. Following recovery, the penguins can be fed fish, their natural diet, until it is safe for them to be released. Additional rescue efforts may include preventing otherwise healthy penguins from entering affected areas until the spill can be maintained.