This antimicrobial penguin vest isn’t just precious. It could be lifesaving

The Humboldt Penguin, which lives on the Pacific coast of Chile and Peru, faces a lot of challenges, including warming waters, the flu, boat accidents, and fishing nets that can drown them. Those hazards have had a catastrophic effect on the population. Researchers found major breeding colonies for the bird in Chile dropped 63% over three years, according to The Associated Press. It’s a perilous time to be a Humboldt Penguin, but a Chilean textile manufacturer is doing its part to help save the penguins by adapting one of its postoperative textiles that the company says can help them heal faster. [Photo: ©ONG Conservación Humboldt] The project began with Humboldt Conservation, a conservation group that protects penguins, sea lions, and sea turtles in Chile’s coastal Coquimbo region, 300 miles north of Santiago, the capital. The group says that many of the penguins that enter its center are wounded on their chests or back from things like attacks from other animals or boat accidents. These wounds require cleaning and sometimes stitches, which animals can never seem to leave alone. Dogs and cats often wear cones to protect a healing wound, but the conservationists wondered if there …