This season (from September to April), Ukrainian polar explorers have counted more than 7,000 sub-Antarctic penguins on Galindez Island, where the Akademik Vernadsky station is located. This was reported on Facebook by the National Antarctic Research Center, UNN writes.
Until 2007, sub-Antarctic penguins did not nest near Akademik Vernadsky at all; in 2020, their number near the station was 3,500, and in 2024 it doubled and crossed the 7,000 mark.
Given that Ukrainian expeditions currently have 14 participants, it turns out to be 500 penguins per polar explorer. The research center noted that warming and a decrease in the area of sea ice in Antarctica leads to the migration of animals that capture new territories previously uninhabited by certain species.
The first nests of sub-Antarctic penguins near the Ukrainian Antarctic station appeared in 2007 at Cape Marina Point. Before that, they did not nest there at all because of the late thawing of the waters around Galindez Island. Previously, frosts in this area reached -20 °C and below: due to the presence of ice, penguins could not hunt effectively, so they chose territories to the north.
But later, due to warming in the area of the western coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, sub-Antarctic penguins rushed south.
Addendum
The Ukrainian polar explorers noted that sub-Antarctic penguins come to their island for the mating season in September-October (Antarctic spring). There, they gather in pairs, build nests, lay eggs, hatch and raise chicks. For the Antarctic winter, penguins leave the Vernadsky vicinity, sailing to places with clean water.
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