Other People Problems

Traps are set in the sea for many reasons including for fishing and catching panguins. Fish nets are a problem because they catch fish, taking penguins' food supply away. NOAA photo

   People have caused penguins to become endangered by doing many things. Long ago, Indians and other individuals killed penguins, using them for meat, feathers and eggs. South American Indians raided penguin colonies in the offshore islands. When Europeans colonized New Zealand, Australia and South America, they also raided penguin breeding colonies. Egg removal is dangerous to the penguins because a female usually only lays one egg (at the most, three) during the season. Penguins were killed for their skins. Since they have a very high fat content, penguins were also killed and their oil used to fuel the fires on the ships that were harvesting oil from whales. In 1857, 500,000 penguins were killed for their oil. 630,000 Jackass Penguins were collected in 1901 from the islands around the South African coast. There was no thought to how these killings might diminish the species.

   Man now pollutes the penguin habitat with oil spills and garbage. Pesticides found in Antarctic penguins, thousands of miles from where they were originally applied, prove to be a real threat to the penguin population and their food. To sustain the total penguin population, approximately 20 - 25 million tons of fish, squid and crustaceans are consumed. Compare this to the 20 million tons the commercial fisheries remove every year from many of the penguins' feeding areas. If commercial fishing is taking place before or during penguin breeding season, this seriously reduces food for new chicks and endangers the chick survival rates.

   Man-made chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (a compound formed when plastics are burned) pose threats to all wildlife. Water pollution remains one of the biggest threats to the penguin population since they take their sustenance from the oceans and not the continent itself. Humboldt penguins are illegally killed for fishing bait or to bait crab pots. Tourists can give penguins human diseases when interacting with them. If man makes a habit of feeding the penguins in the wild, the penguins might get used to eating what they're fed and not get the proper nutrition.

   Deforestation is one way people continue to destroy penguins' habitat. No one would think deforestation would hurt the penguin population, but many penguins can and do live in forests. People have many reasons to like penguins and penguins have many reasons not to like us too.

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