Âé¶¹´«Ã½

Letter: On the threat to African penguins

Published 3 April 2024

From Anthony Forbes, Durban, South Africa

There is no evidence that an apparent reduction in great white sharks off the south coast of South Africa has resulted in a rise in seal numbers and greater predation of or competition with penguins (9 March, p 10).

The African penguin is in a well-documented catastrophic decline following decades of , both now fortunately no more. The biggest documented threat at this stage is , whose activities in areas around island breeding colonies were curtailed, but have now been restored following industry pressure.

Issue no. 3485 published 6 April 2024

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