Penguins in South Africa are being driven from their native environment because of noise from shipping activities.

The African penguins live on St. Croix island off the east coast of South Africa. The animals are already endangered. But a new study has found that African penguins are leaving their natural environment to escape noisy ship refueling operations. The island once held the world’s largest reproducing group of the animals. But the population has dropped sharply since South Africa started permitting ships in the area to refuel at sea six years ago.

Lorien Pichegru is acting director of the Coastal and Marine Research Institute at Nelson Mandela University, which led the study. She said that noise levels in the area had doubled since the refueling activities began. Scientists say high noise levels affect the ability of ocean animals to find and catch other animals for food. Noise also makes it more difficult for the animals to communicate with each other and map travel paths.

In 2016, South Africa’s Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) offered the country’s first offshore refueling operator’s license to Aegean Marine. Later, it gave two licenses to SA Marine Fuels and Heron Marine. An order to grant no new licenses has been in place since August 2019. It will only be lifted after an environmental study is completed by port officials. The study is expected next year. Oil-covered penguins were found in 2019 in Algoa Bay after an oil spill from ship-to-ship refueling. Environmental groups have called for the activities to be banned in the bay.

Pichegru said penguins in the area were already struggling to reproduce because of a series of issues, including industrial fishing operations. She added that the refueling activities did not kill all the penguins. “It was just the thing that made the whole ecosystem out of place and then the penguins couldn’t adapt to that,” she said.

【小题1】Why are African penguins leaving their native habitat?

A．To get out of oil pollution.

B．To hunt for more food.

C．To get away from shipping noise.

D．To escape the hot weather.

【小题2】What directly caused the decrease of the penguins’ population?

A．The refueling activities.

B．The loss of their reproducing ability.

C．The reduction of their habitats.

D．The continuously rising sea levels.

【小题3】What does the underlined word “grant” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．Ban.

B．Cancel.

C．Limit.

D．Issue.

【小题4】What did Pichegru mainly talk about in the last paragraph?

A．Measures of saving the penguins.

B．The penguins’ promising future.

C．The penguins’ present situation.

D．Reasons for the penguins’ extinction.