World’s largest penguin colony loses half a million birds
On the slopes of an active volcano far from human settlements, a penguin colony is shrinking rapidly. Zavodovski Island has lost more than half a million birds, along with its status as the world’s largest penguin colony, Qazinform News Agency reports.
The findings come from researchers at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). To assess the colony, they spent 15 days sailing through stormy seas before setting up camp near the volcano. The nearest permanent settlement is more than 2,000 kilometers away.
The scientists counted birds using drones and aerial photographs taken from a Royal Air Force aircraft, while tracking devices attached to penguins recorded their movements. The results revealed that the colony had lost more than half a million chinstrap penguins. That figure represents more than a quarter of all penguins on the island, which is home mainly to chinstrap and macaroni penguins.
For years, Zavodovski Island, part of the South Sandwich Islands, was thought to have escaped the declines affecting chinstrap penguins elsewhere. While other colonies were shrinking, the population here appeared to be thriving. However, new data show that numbers have been falling since 2011. The island now has the fastest rate of chinstrap penguin decline among all studied colonies worldwide.
Scientists link the decline to changes in the Southern Ocean. Climate-driven shifts are making it harder for the birds to find food. According to the researchers, the volcanic eruption in March 2016, which blanketed the lower slopes in smoke and ash, does not explain the sustained population decline over many years.
The losses on the island could affect the conservation status of the entire species. The South Sandwich Islands are home to around 30% of the world’s chinstrap penguins. Declines here, combined with losses in other colonies, could lead to the species being classified as Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.
The findings were published in the journal Current Biology. Cape Adare in the Ross Sea is now considered home to the world’s largest penguin colony.
As Qazinform News Agency previously reported, all four Humboldt penguins at Yagiyama Zoological Park in the Japanese city of Sendai died of avian malaria.