Scientists discover previously unknown colonies of emperor penguins in Antarctica
Kyiv • UNN
Researchers have discovered four previously unseen colonies of emperor penguins in Antarctica. Some colonies have moved due to melting ice as a result of climate change, which has reduced the total population to 300,000 pairs.
The four newly discovered colonies have probably existed for many years, but scientists have not noticed them before. These are mostly small colonies, each of which has less than a thousand breeding pairs. This is reported by Phys.org, UNN writes.
Details
It is noted that unknown colonies of emperor penguins have been spotted on new satellite images.
According to a study released Wednesday, at least some emperor penguins are moving their colonies as melting ice due to climate change threatens breeding grounds.
One penguin colony near Gully Bay appears to have moved about 30 kilometers (19 miles) east, said Peter Fretwell, a researcher with the British Antarctic Survey. He noted that unstable conditions since 2016 have made the old site unsafe.
Emperor penguins have taken on the task of finding more stable sea ice,
According to him, the four newly discovered colonies have probably existed for many years, but scientists had not noticed them before. These are mostly small colonies, each with less than 1,000 nesting pairs. Currently, scientists know of 66 colonies of emperor penguins.
He also added that the spotted penguin colonies don't change the overall population estimate much - currently less than about 300,000 breeding pairs - but they help scientists understand where the penguins may be headed.
For reference
Emperor penguins, which are considered "nearly endangered," are the largest penguins in the world. They raise their chicks in the Antarctic winter on patches of frozen sea ice. But if the ice breaks up before the chicks fly out, most of them will die.
