A big draw of going to Antarctica is the opportunity to see penguins in their natural habitat - and today is Penguin Awareness day! Antarctica is home to a number of different species of penguin which act as a barometer on the effects of climate change.
Penguin Species
There are a number different species of penguin from the smallest, the well named little penguin to the largest, the emperor penguin, and although they are usually associated with ice and snow, the African penguin is found on the shores of South Africa and the Galapagos penguin sometimes as far north as the equator. These 2 are included in the 5 species of penguin that are currently listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List.
Only 2 species make their home entirely on the continent of Antarctica - the emperor and adelie.
The chinstrap, gentoo and macaroni penguins breed on the northern tip of the Antarctic peninsula so these are the ones I'm most likely to see.
chinstrap - have a narrow black band across the underside of their heads
gentoo - known for its distinctive white stripe across its head, an orange beak and a long tail, which sweeps from side to side as it waddles.
macaroni - think of Yankee-Doodle! They were named for the resemblance of their yellow feathered crest to the feathers worn on hats by men in the 18th century, who were known as macaronis;
Penguins and Climate Change
While gentoo penguins are known to live on the northern tip of the peninsular, a new colony has been discovered on Andersson Island, on the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula. Previously it was too icy for these penguins to raise their chicks this far south but the changes caused by global warming, the warmer temperatures and lower sea ice conditions, has likely made it now possible for the colony of 75 gentoo chicks to survive.
There is also a risk that as conditions encourage the gentoos to move further south into the territory of the adelies they will out-compete the adelies. However, in the Antarctic Peninsula where Adélie and Gentoo penguins breed together, gentoos are thriving in the warmer temperatures and lower sea-ice conditions resulting from climate change, and may out-compete Adélie penguins as the climate changes further.
Evidence of climate change affecting penguins was also discovered in 2020 when a survey of the chinstrap colonies on Elephant Island showed that numbers had significantly decreased since the previous survey in 1971. Climate change, and the resulting warming of water temperatures, may well be the cause of the decline in numbers of krill in Antarctic seas. As one of the main food stuffs of chinstraps (and of fish that penguins also eat) this could well be a factor in the reduced numbers of penguins.
And for Any Younger Readers...
I can't let Penguin Awareness Day pass without mentioning a favourite children's book - known as Penguin's Progress when my sister enjoyed her copy, it's since been republished as The Penguin Who Wanted to Find Out. Otto is an emperor penguin chick with a lot to learn and, as the first chick, has to lead all the other chicks to becoming fully grown penguins.
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