Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society, the
University of Washington, and other groups are grappling with a
wildlife mystery: Why are some penguin chicks losing their
feathers? The appearance of "naked" penguinsafflicted with what
is known as feather-loss disorderin penguin colonies on both
sides of the South Atlantic in recent years has scientists
puzzled as to what could be causing the condition. A study on
the disorder appears in a recent edition of the journal
Waterbirds. The authors of the paper are: Olivia J. Kane,
Jeffrey R. Smith, and P. Dee Boersma of the Wildlife
Conservation Society and the University of Washington; Nola J.
Parsons and Vanessa Strauss of the South African Foundation for
the Conservation of Coastal Birds; and Pablo Garcia-Borboroglu
and Cecilia Villanueva of Centro Nacional Patagnico. "Feather-
loss disorders are uncommon in most bird species, and we need to
conduct further study to determine the cause of the disorder and
if this is in fact spreading to other penguin spec