Treehugger reports that conservationists in Australia have turned to sheepdogs to help them protect a colony fairy penguins.
A colony of fairy penguins on Warrnambool's Middle Island off the south coast of Australia has dwindled dramatically due to attacks by foxes and wild dogs. However, their numbers are rising again thanks to their new bodyguards - two Maremmas, an Italian breed of sheepdog that bonds with the flock or herd of animals it is protecting.
The idea began as an experiment but the sheepdogs have proven to be successful. Middle Island Maremma Project manager Ian Fitzgibbons says, "We've had our best penguin count since we began in 2006 with over 80 birds counted in one night and I think we have about 26 chicks on the island too." You can see a photo of the sheepdogs used to protect the little penguins here.
Hundreds of Magellanic Penguins Released Back Into the Sea
Magellanic penguins rehabilitated with the help of the International Fund for Animal Welfare are released back into the sea in the CNN video below. The IFAW has been covering the story in its animal rescue blog here. The post here discusses 399 seats booked on a flight for the penguins. This was the largest ever release of penguins in South America. The story began when many juvenile magellanic penguins washed up on the Brazilian coast. It is good that there was happy ending for many of these penguins.
The AFP reports that several gay penguins at a zoo in Germany are refusing to mate with female penguins that zookeepers flew in from Sweden. The six male penguins have coupled and refuse to seperate -- despite efforst by the zookeepers. The zoo has been accused of trying to force the gay penguins to "choose" opposite sex partners.
The zoo has 10 male penguins of which six have shown strong signs of preferring male company and formed couples among themselves.
The initiative to "turn" the penguins and make them mate had prompted a furious response from gay rights groups.
In a statement posted on its Internet website, the zoo on Wednesday sought to defend itself from fresh criticism.
"We will be delighted if the penguins form even one heterosexual couple and manage to produce first an egg, and then a little one," it said.
"But of course we accept the male couples that have formed and we are not trying to enforce heterosexuality, as we were accused of doing last year."
New York also has a pair of gay penguins named Wendell and Cass that live at the New York Aquarium. The penguins stirred up a controversy in 2002 but gay animals are actually not unusual according to their keeper Stephanie Mitchell quoted in a CNS article.
This is not unusual. "There are a lot of animals that have same-sex relations, it's just that people don't know about it," Mitchell said. "I mean, Joe Schmoe on the street is not someone who's read all sorts of biology books."
One particular book is helpful in this case. Bruce Bagemihl's "Biological Exuberance," published in 1999, documents homosexual behavior in more than 450 animal species. The list includes grizzly bears, gorillas, flamingos, owls and even several species of salmon.
The German zookeepers may have to bring in a heterosexual penguin. It doesn't sound like they are going to be able to get any of the six gay penguins to mate with females.
