Emperor penguin "disaster": Halley colony melted and almost all young people died – 25/04/2019

Almost all the descendants of one of the most important colonies of emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) has died as a result of melting their habitat In the last three years, according to a study released Thursday, describing this case as a "catastrophic".

The Halley colony in the Weddell Sea in Antarctica was until recently the second largest colony emperor penguins of the world, with up to 25,000 couples who came every year to reproduce.

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But the satellite images studied by the British Antarctic Research Center (BAS) showed that in 2016, a year marked by particularly hot and stormy weather, ice that penguins raise their babies gave way, killing almost all the little ones, according to a statement.

This phenomenon it was repeated in 2017 and 2018, so the ice cream did not recover.

As a result, this colony "It has almost disappeared", according to the BAS study.

"We've been following the population of this colony and other settlements in the area for 10 years, using high-definition satellite imagery," BAS's Peter Fretwell said.

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"These images have clearly shown a catastrophic failure of reproduction on this site over the past three years," he added.

The research team found a marked increase in the size of a nearby colony, Dawson Lambton, suggesting that many Halley birds they migrated in a safer place. However, experts say that this increase does not compensate for the loss of the Halley colony, although it does provide indications of how this species might change its habits in the face of the effects of climate change on its habitat. The results of the research were published in the scientific journal Antarctic Science.

According to BAS's expert, Phil Trathan, it's not possible to state unequivocally that the melting ice in Halley Bay is linked to climate change. "But this failure of reproduction on this site is unprecedented"he remarked.

The emperor is the greatest of all penguins, but he is particularly vulnerable to climate change. Their population could decrease by 70% by the end of the century. About 8% of the specimens were born in Halley Bay, Trathan said.

These penguins breed in the harshest winter conditions and need sea ice to stay in April, when the birds arrive, until December, when their offspring grow up. If the sea ice breaks too early, the young birds will not have the right feathers to start swimming.

That seems to have been what happened in 2016. Violent winds emptied the sea ice that had stuck to Brunt's platform and it broke, forcing the offspring too immature to jump to the sea.

Fretwell explains that "the sea ice formed from 2016 has not been so strong.The sea ice that was once stable and reliable is simply unsustainable."

Sources: AFP and La Vanguardia

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