Rik
07-05-2005, 02:27 PM
This is my WTFnews of the week, something to take your mind away from the usual news of gloom and doom.
Chlamydia strikes penguin colony (http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1274&storyid=3083640)
A MYSTERIOUS outbreak of chlamydia, a bacterial infection that humans pass to each other through sex, has killed a dozen penguins at the San Francisco Zoo, a zoo spokeswoman said today.
The illness turned the zoo's Magellanic penguin colony into a disease hot spot, sparking fatal respiratory distress and kidney failure that struck down 12 of the birds.
The illness that befell the zoo's "Penguin Island" was not sexually transmitted, officials said.
"We suspect it could have something to do with the gulls and their droppings but it could have been something else," zoo spokeswoman Nancy Chan said.
Fifty-five other penguins survived the outbreak, which zoo officials believe started in late February.
The outbreak was the second Penguin Island mystery to stump zoo officials in recent years.
The zoo's penguins in December 2003 began swimming non-stop in circles after six new penguins were introduced to the colony. Normally the birds occasionally splash about in their pool. They went around and around until mid-February 2004.
"Even when the pool was drained they would walk around in circles," Ms Chan said.
My reaction: :confused: :eek: :D
Chlamydia strikes penguin colony (http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1274&storyid=3083640)
A MYSTERIOUS outbreak of chlamydia, a bacterial infection that humans pass to each other through sex, has killed a dozen penguins at the San Francisco Zoo, a zoo spokeswoman said today.
The illness turned the zoo's Magellanic penguin colony into a disease hot spot, sparking fatal respiratory distress and kidney failure that struck down 12 of the birds.
The illness that befell the zoo's "Penguin Island" was not sexually transmitted, officials said.
"We suspect it could have something to do with the gulls and their droppings but it could have been something else," zoo spokeswoman Nancy Chan said.
Fifty-five other penguins survived the outbreak, which zoo officials believe started in late February.
The outbreak was the second Penguin Island mystery to stump zoo officials in recent years.
The zoo's penguins in December 2003 began swimming non-stop in circles after six new penguins were introduced to the colony. Normally the birds occasionally splash about in their pool. They went around and around until mid-February 2004.
"Even when the pool was drained they would walk around in circles," Ms Chan said.
My reaction: :confused: :eek: :D