Copper suits give injured penguins a fighting chance in Chile

Chilean researchers have designed a therapeutic suit from copper and zinc to speed the recovery of penguins after surgery for wounds often sustained when they become trapped in fishing nets.

The suit was created by adapting copper bodysuits previously used on four-legged animals for birds, through a collaboration between the Humboldt Conservation Center, a non-profit, the Catholic University of the North and textile innovation company Kimba Vet.

Protecting the wounds posed a challenge because penguins are wild animals with very flexible necks, making it easy for them to pull out stitches or reopen healing wounds, said Tomas Pino, veterinarian and president of the Humboldt Conservation Center.

Although the suits contain copper and zinc, they do not look metallic. The red fabric contains microscopic particles of both metals woven into the fibers themselves, rather than coated onto the surface.

Estefanía Guidotti, Kimba's marketing manager, said copper and zinc help prevent the growth of bacteria, fungi, and mites during recovery. Zinc also encourages the formation of new blood vessels, helping damaged tissue heal more quickly.

"This is a differentiating factor of this technology versus others, allowing tissues to recover faster," Guidotti said.

The suits were tested on five penguins at the Humboldt Conservation Center in Coquimbo, which rehabilitates injured two species of penguins on Chile's central rocky coast, Humboldt and Magellanic penguins. Four of the birds had wounds believed to have been caused by human activity, most likely entanglement in fishing nets.

The conservation status of the two species differs. Humboldt penguins are classified as vulnerable, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species, while Magellanic penguins are listed as less of a concern, though populations of both are in decline.

Chile, the world's top copper producer, is home to 80% of the world's remaining Humboldt penguins, and scientists at the Universidad de Concepcion estimate that their numbers have dwindled to fewer than 20,000 from around 45,000 in the late 1990s.

-Report by Rodrigo Gutierrez and Fabian Cambero. Writing by Raul Cortes. Editing by Lucinda Elliott and Aurora Ellis/Reuters