Scientists discover secret 'supercolony' of penguins in Antarctica
Scientists had previously feared that the Adélie penguins' numbers had been in decline because of climate change
Scientists have discovered a previously unknown “supercolony” of Adélie penguins in the Antarctic.
Numbering more than 1.5 million birds, they were first noticed “when great patches of their poo, or guano, showed up in pictures taken from space,” says the BBC.
The researchers, who detail the discovery in the journal Scientific Reports, say it is a total surprise.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“It's a classic case of finding something where no-one really looked! The Danger Islands are hard to reach, so people didn't really try that hard,” team-member Dr Tom Hart from Oxford University, UK, told the BBC.
“When we first got these pixels of guano, I thought it might be a false alarm,” Heather Lynch, another team-member told The Wall Street Journal, adding, “It wasn’t. We had massive penguin colonies that had not been known to exist.”
“The sheer size of what we were looking at took our breath away. We thought, if what we're seeing is true, these are going to be some of the largest Adélie penguin colonies in the world, and it's going to be well worth our while sending in an expedition to count them properly.”
The discovery has eased fears that numbers of Adelie penguins had been in decline for decades due to climate change.
“Not only do the Danger Islands hold the largest population of Adélie penguins on the Antarctic Peninsula, they also appear to have not suffered the population declines found along the western side of Antarctic Peninsula that are associated with recent climate change,” said Professor Michael Polito, an ecologist at the Louisiana State University who participated in the research.
“It puts the East Antarctic Peninsula in stark contrast to the Adélie and chinstrap penguin declines that we are seeing on the West Antarctic Peninsula,” said Hart.
“It’s not clear what the driver of those declines is yet; the candidates are climate change, fishing and direct human disturbance, but it does show the size of the problem.”
This stark comparison “suggests penguins fare much better when their environments are completely undisturbed, a finding that reinforces calls from environmentalists for a protects area in the Weddell Sea, where the Danger Islands are located,” says BusinessInsider.
A breakthrough discovery of this scale “offers ecologists hope: Even in the age of Google Earth, maybe we don’t know our planet as well as we think we do,” says Quartz.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
'Republicans want to silence Israel's opponents'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Poland, Germany nab alleged anti-Ukraine spies
Speed Read A man was arrested over a supposed Russian plot to kill Ukrainian President Zelenskyy
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Today's political cartoons - April 19, 2024
Cartoons Friday's cartoons - priority delivery, USPS on fire, and more
By The Week US Published
-
What is rock flour and how can it help to fight climate change?
The Explainer Glacier dust to the rescue
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Arid Gulf states hit with year's worth of rain
Speed Read The historic flooding in Dubai is tied to climate change
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The growing thirst for camel milk
Under the radar Climate change and health-conscious consumers are pushing demand for nutrient-rich product – and the growth of industrialised farming
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Why curbing methane emissions is tricky in fight against climate change
The Explainer Tackling the second most significant contributor to global warming could have an immediate impact
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published
-
How the EU undermines its climate goals with animal farming subsidies
Under the radar Bloc's agricultural policy incentivises carbon-intensive animal farming over growing crops, despite aims to be carbon-neutral
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Why are people and elephants fighting in Sri Lanka?
Under The Radar Farmers encroaching into elephant habitats has led to deaths on both sides
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
How climate change is contributing to global unrest
In Depth Some experts argue that global warming can be tied to rising levels of violence around the world
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Why last-chance tourism is the latest controversial travel trend
The Explainer Race to visit places threatened by climate change 'before it's too late'
By Austin Chen, The Week UK Published