A new research has shown that thousands of emperor penguin chicks across four colonies in Antarctica are believed to have died because of record-low sea ice levels that caused a “catastrophic breeding failure” in late 2022.
Analysis of satellite images showed that the break-up of usually stable sea ice and the disappearance of the colonies at a time when chicks had not yet grown their waterproof feathers. This is even as scientists have said that emperor penguins face an uncertain future under global heating because they are so reliant on sea ice, which is projected to decline as the world’s oceans heat up.
Published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, the report observed the sea ice breaking apart from late October to early December at colonies at Verdi Inlet, Smyley Island, Bryant Coast and Pfrogner Point.
According to the research, the breeding failures in the Bellingshausen Sea were “without precedent”, as it was the first time multiple colonies across a large region had all failed in a single season.
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“It’s a grim story,” said Dr Peter Fretwell, a researcher with the British Antarctic Survey and the lead author of the research. “I was shocked. It’s very hard to think of these cute fluffy chicks dying in large numbers. “We had predicted it for a long time. The sea ice loss has been unprecedented and far quicker than we imagined.”
Reports also show that Antarctic sea ice shrank to a record low in February, which followed a record low the year before, in events that have shocked scientists. Large patches of brown guano – a buildup of excrement – on the white sea ice make emperor penguin colonies visible from satellites.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
