The Penguins That Thrive—and the Ones Left Behind—as Anta...

What’s Happening

Let’s talk about A new decade-long study tracked 37 penguin colonies and found that the birds are breeding earlier.

The shift marks one way among many that climate change is transforming life at the bottom of the world The Penguins That Thrive—and the Ones Left Behind—as Antarctica Warms A new decade-long study tracked 37 penguin colonies and found that the birds are breeding earlier. A gentoo penguin peers up from its colony s nesting grounds on Booth Island, in the Antarctic Peninsula. (it feels like chaos)

The species, an adaptable forager that can switch prey when krill are scarce, has expanded into parts of the Antarctic Peninsula that were once too icy to inhabit.

The Details

Avery Schuyler Nunn Key takeaways: Penguins face an ecosystem of cascading changes As the Antarctic warms, penguins lifestyles are shifting because of less sea ice and threats to krill , which many of the birds eat. A new study finds that Ad lie, chinstrap and gentoo penguins have advanced their breeding seasons weeks over the past decade, potentially increasing competition between species.

The ink-dark seas were glassy and the conditions mild in one of the most rapidly warming environments on Earth. Here live the humpbacks and orcas, seals and penguins, albatrosses and icefish—disparate species bound together , seasonal ice and the narrow margins of survival at the bottom of the world.

Why This Matters

The engine of our Zodiac —a small but sturdy boat with a rigid hull and rubber pontoons—emits a steady hum as we move toward a towering mountain, gliding past icebergs sprinkled with penguins and the soft, percussive poof s of humpback whale blows in the distance. A small, charcoal-colored seabird with a narrow white stripe at the base of its tail skims low over the ocean, its feet pitter-pattering along the surface, seeming to walk on water. “A Wilson’s storm petrel,” Tom Hart acknowledges through a gentle, gap-toothed smile.

This could have implications for future research in this area.

The Bottom Line

“A Wilson’s storm petrel,” Tom Hart acknowledges through a gentle, gap-toothed smile. ” But Hart, a penguinologist, is most interested in the flightless black-and-white birds quintessential to Antarctica’s landscape.

Are you here for this or nah?