Colony of Antarctic penguins nears extinction

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in July that it is considering listing 10 species of penguins as possibly facing extinction, also citing global warming as part of the problem. Adélie penguins are not on the agency’s list, however, because large colonies in other parts of Antarctica are thriving.

Fraser says the birds near Palmer Station are struggling to have families.

Adélies arrive at the islands in the area each October, soon after the snow melts during the southern hemisphere's spring. They build pebble nests big enough to cradle a basketball in colonies with up to several thousand adults.

But there is evidence that snowfall is increasing on the Antarctic Peninsula, which in the past was almost desert-like. The cause is believed to be warmer air, which is able to hold more moisture, and reduced sea ice, which permits more ocean water to evaporate.

More winter precipitation means the islands around Palmer Station don’t become snow-free until later in the spring. But Adélies can’t build nests and lay viable eggs until their gravel breeding ground is bare.

Time pressure to feed
If the penguins wait too long to lay eggs, there won’t be enough time to raise chicks before the area’s krill season ends and the penguins are forced to move for the winter.

When they do depart, the Adélies rely on ice floes, which act like moving sidewalks, helping to carry the birds to their winter feeding grounds hundreds of miles south of Palmer Station. But sea ice is shrinking, Fraser says, and the penguins don't always make it to the best places to feast on the shrimp-like krill that sustain them.

As a human being, Fraser says it is troubling to see the birds he’s studied his whole professional life disappear. But as a scientist, he watches the rapid-fire changes taking place at Palmer Station with fascination.

“At one time we were getting glimpses of these changes,” he says. “Right now they’re so obvious it’s quite remarkable.”

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