Emperor Penguins,
Aptenodytes forsteri, are famous for their intrepid ability to breed and raise chicks in the darkness of the ferocious Antarctic winter, the only penguin species to take on this formidable task. However, the second largest colony of these giants has suffered a disastrous breeding failure according to
a recent study. Since 2016 the Halley Bay colony has been photographed from above by satellites recording a complete breeding failure, something that has never been recorded before. The Halley Bay colony located on the Brunt Ice Shelf has been surveyed since the 1950's; UK's Halley Research Station is in the vicinity. The colony supported 14,000 to 25,000 individuals, or between 5 to 9% of the world's population, but in 2016 abnormally heavy El Nino storms broke up the sea ice in October, long before the chicks had fledged and were ready to go to sea. The same unfortunate event happened in 2017 and 2018.
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| Brunt Ice Shelf (BRU) is on the east coast of the Weddell Sea |
In the same time period the Dawson-Lambton colony, fifty-five kilometers to the south has grown ten fold. Scientists assume that the increase is due to penguins migrating to what has become a safer location. To insure their chicks have the best chance to survive, females lay their eggs in May, the beginning of the Antarctic winter. They only lay their eggs on the sea ice, not land, so they rely on a stable ice platform to raise their young. The early breakup for three years in a row, which could be attributable to global climatic change, proved to be too much for these extremely hardy birds. Scientists are unable to say whether the Halley Bay colony will cease to exist in the future as the annual population continues to decline. As Antarctica warms and sea ice coverage is reduced
[map], penguin numbers are predicted to drop.
