For the second time in four years, a large breeding colony of penguins on Antarctica has collapsed, raising the need for more wildlife protection as well as action to curb climate change, scientists say.
In January, the 18,000 pairs of Adelie penguins near France's Dumont d'Urville research station produced just two surviving chicks for the season. The penguins typically lay two eggs per pair.
Penguin-cam captures life under Antarctic ice
New footage released shows a penguin-eye view under the ice in Antarctic waters using a tiny camera mounted on the back of an Adelie penguin.
Four years earlier, about 20,200 pairs produced no surviving chicks at all, said WWF and researchers, including Yan Ropert-Coudert at France's National Centre for Scientific Research.
"Adelie penguins are one of the hardiest and most amazing animals on our planet," Rod Downie, head of WWF's polar programs, said in a statement.
"This devastating event contrasts with the image that many people might have of penguins," he said.
"It's more like 'Quentin Tarantino does Happy Feet', with dead penguin chicks strewn across a beach in Adelie Land," he said referring to the director of Pulp Fiction and the Hollywood animated blockbuster about penguins.
Dr Ropert-Coudert said unusual shifts in sea-ice cover appear to be the main cause of both breeding collapses.
"Meteorological factors - driven by large-scale climate changes - that are behind the massive failure are out of the norm, at least from what we know of the normal speed of changes in the past," he told Fairfax Media.
An Adelie penguin with its dead chick. Photo: Y. Ropert-Couder/ CNRS/ IPEV |
Climate change appears to be affecting many other species, including shy albatrosses, which are having to fly further to feed. Increased intensity of rain events also appears to be affecting the integrity of their nests, prompting groups including the WWF to intervene by supplying more rigid nests for the birds.
Adelie penguins have suffered colony collapses twice in the past four years. Photo: Greg and Kate Bourne/WWF Australia |
A proposal for a new marine protected area (MPA) is on the agenda of the meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.
A waddle of Adelie penguins in Antarctica. Photo: Cheryl Ramalho |
Adelie penguin chicks starved to death at Dumont d'Urville in January. Photo: Y. Ropert-Couder/ CNRS/ IPEV |
A dead Adelie penguin chick is food for another bird. Photo: Y. Ropert-Couder/ CNRS/ IPEV |
WWF said expectations were high that next week's gathering would support the creation of the new MPA. The plan is backed by Australia and France with the EU, and has been discussed by the commission for eight years.
The proposal originally comprised seven large marine areas off the coast of East Antarctica but was later cut to four. WWF said it was likely only three of those areas - MacRobertson, Drygalski, and the D'Urville Sea-Mertz region, where the Petrel Island Adelie colony is located - will be adopted this year.
Last year, the commission adopted the Ross Sea MPA, the largest protected area in the world. (See map below.)
Setting aside the D'Urville Sea Mertz region as off limits to krill fisheries will be particularly important for protecting the foraging and breeding grounds of the Adelie penguins, WWF said.
Links
- Thousands of Adelie penguin chick deaths lead to call for increased protections in Antarctica
- Thousands of tiny baby Adélie penguin starve to death as changing weather forces parents to travel for food
- Penguins starving to death is a sign that something’s very wrong in the Antarctic
- 'Bold' move to halt the decline of the shy albatross
- Antarctic sea ice hits record low in big reversal
- The continent that climate change has not forgotten
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