Here's why Antarctica's newest penguin colony has scientists worried
Approximately seventy-five gentoo penguin chicks were spotted in the recently discovered colony.
One of the southernmost locations at which these waddling birds have ever been observed is now home to a hitherto unknown colony of gentoo penguins found by scientists. The researchers say this is concerning since climate change allows this type of penguin, which does not prefer ice, to spread further north than previously thought.
There have been other alarming discoveries as well. Gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis Papua) have been spotted in an uncharted archipelago off the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, in addition to this colony with 75 nests on Andersson Island. According to a press release from Greenpeace Canada, these are two of the earliest records of the species breeding so far south on the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Gentoo penguins, which prefer warmer climates, previously could not breed in these regions due to the extreme cold. The third-largest living penguin species, Adélie penguins, are native to warmer sub-Antarctic islands like the Falkland Islands off Argentina. They prefer ice-free areas like flat, rocky beaches and low-lying cliffs where they can gather in large colonies. This information comes from Oceana, a nonprofit organisation not involved in the new sightings.
Greenpeace invited non-affiliated researchers to join them on the MV Arctic Sunrise, an icebreaker ship, for the voyage through the Weddell Sea and the penguin count on Antarctica.
Expedition co-leader Heather J. Lynch, an ecology and evolution professor at New York's Stony Brook University, said in a statement that mapping these isolated archipelagos will help scientists better understand the impact of global warming on the region's penguins. Almost everywhere we look, we see gentoo penguins, which is another proof that the diversity of animals on the Antarctic Peninsula is shifting dramatically due to climate change.
Only one gentoo penguin colony had ever been documented thus far south before. Since Gentoo penguins don't migrate, Mongabay notes that favourable conditions must exist for them to remain in one place throughout the year.
Lynch told Mongabay that the animals are "extremely opportunistic," meaning they will inhabit rock as soon as possible as the glaciers melt. We use them to measure how far the Antarctic Peninsula has transitioned into a sub-Antarctic or temperate environment due to global warming.
According to a statement released by Greenpeace, many penguin populations are in transition due to rapid climate change and rising industrial fishing. For instance, in the last 30 years, as reported by Live Science, ice loss in Antarctica has accelerated by six. Live Science reported in December that the collapse of Thwaites Glacier, popularly known as the "Doomsday Glacier," could raise global sea levels by more than 2 feet (65 centimetres).
Mongabay reported that scientists and conservationists are advocating for three new marine protected areas around the southern continent, including 1.5 million square miles (4 million square kilometres) in East Antarctica, the Antarctic Peninsula, and the Weddell Sea, to aid native animals struggling in the warming Antarctic.
Louisa Casson, of Greenpeace's Protect the Oceans campaign and also on the Arctic Sunrise, said in a statement, "Governments need to agree [to] a new Global Ocean Treaty to deliver protection for at least 30% of the world's oceans by 2030 — and they must get to work by protecting the Antarctic's waters."
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