All 4 penguins kept at northeastern Japan zoo die of avian malaria

All four Humboldt penguins that were being kept at a zoo in northeastern Japan and died one after the other last month were found to have died from avian malaria, results from an investigation showed Friday.The mosquito-borne illness is not contagious to humans. In some cases, the disease can progress rapidly from showing no symptoms to death.Iwate University was commissioned by Yagiyama Zoological Park in Sendai to investigate the cause of the birds' deaths.Beginning with a male penguin named Aramasa, the four penguins died between July 9 and 19. None had shown any signs of illness until t…READ FULL ARTICLE