Researchers in Chile have designed an unlikely new garment for injured penguins: snug red vests threaded with copper and zinc that they hope will help the aquatic birds heal faster. Veterinarians have found previous success using such suits to treat injured dogs and cats. Now they're trying out the tech on Humboldt penguins in Chile, home to the largest concentration of the vulnerable species, per the AP. "We began to wonder—why can't this be used on penguins?" says Ignacio Idalsoaga, head of the Buin Zoo, a wildlife park on the outskirts of Chile's capital, Santiago, where researchers took measurements of penguins to develop the first bodysuits.
Chilean and international researchers surveying the country's major breeding colonies in 2024 and 2025 found a 63% drop in active nests compared to the same sites three years earlier. The birds face mounting threats, including entanglement in fishing nets, plastic pollution, disease outbreaks, and competition with fisheries for food. Now Humboldt penguins also find themselves in the crosshairs of one of the world's most disruptive weather patterns, El Nino, which brings unusually warm waters to parts of the Pacific, making the cold-water fish they rely on harder to find.
Hunger forces penguin parents to travel farther for food, leaving their nests behind. Wildlife clinics across Chile receive distressed penguins stranded along Chile's coast, some cut by fishing nets or boat propellers, others weakened by a lack of food, says Tomas Pino, a veterinarian who runs Conservacion Humboldt, a nonprofit that rehabilitates injured marine animals in the country's north.
Treating those injuries can be tricky. Penguins often twist their long necks to peck at gashes and pull out their own stitches, Pino says. The vests prevent them from doing that while putting copper—of which Chile is the world's top producer—to work as a salve. Copper and zinc woven into the fabric inhibit the growth of bacteria and fungi; zinc also stimulates the formation of new blood vessels, helping damaged tissue heal faster. "We've seen that the penguins tolerate it quite well," Pino says. "We noticed that from one day to the next—the wounds were in better condition with the vest."
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