New satellite imagery shows previously unknown colonies of emperor penguins in Antarctica
Emperor penguin
In a significant development, researchers said that the latest satellite imagery revealed previously unknown colonies of emperor penguins along the edges of Antarctica.
During winter, colonies of thousands of emperor penguins live and breed on the frozen sea ice clinging to the Antarctic coast. The emperor penguins use ice as hatching grounds, but the process becomes more unstable because of climate change and warming oceans which lead to the breaking of ice. The extent and quality of ice impact their population as chicks' chances of survival are hampered.
Research published on Wednesday mentioned that photos from the continent's Brunt ice shelf showed four new colonies of emperor penguins migrating to new nesting grounds as their home melted fast. Now, the total number of nesting grounds known to scientists is 66.
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The scientists said that the finding of these nests adds a few thousand extra penguins to the earlier estimated population of 550,000.
Emperor penguins are the world's largest penguins and they are considered "near threatened" with extinction, but it seems that they are now moving their colonies in order to save themselves.
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Over the years, the ice beneath their feet has been melting and breaking off, leading to thousands of penguins dying after drowning or freezing to death. It has been forcing them to relocate to stable breeding grounds.
The British Antarctic Survey published images which showed hordes of penguins in the pure white snow. Three of the colonies spotted on the Brunt ice shelf were small – fewer than 100 birds. However, the fourth group, a colony that experts believed had perished, included around 5000 birds.
Peter Fretwell, a researcher at the British Antarctic Survey, which discovered these colonies, said: "Emperor penguins have taken it upon themselves to try to find more stable sea ice."
Fretwell said that one penguin colony near Halley Bay appears to have moved around 30 kilometres to the east. "The losses we are seeing through climate change probably outweigh any population gain we get by finding new colonies," he added.
Watch:Four new emperor penguin groups discovered in Antarctica
Will this impact in long run?
Daniel Zitterbart, who is a penguin researcher at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, told USA Today: "Because of the warming oceans, there will be less sea ice. And less sea ice means less stable breeding sites for emperor penguins".
Fretwell also noted, "All except one of these colonies are small, with less than 1,000 birds, so finding these new colonies makes little difference to the overall population size. In fact, it is overshadowed by the recently reported breeding failures due to the early and fast ice loss."