This week, British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is inviting the public to become ‘penguin detectives’ and spend five minutes counting emperor penguins to help with vital research into these iconic animals.
Record low levels of Antarctic sea ice in late 2023 resulted in breeding failures in a fifth of the continent’s emperor penguin colonies, according to a new study from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).
Scientists have discovered a new emperor penguin colony in Antarctica using satellite mapping technology. This new colony makes a total of 66 known emperor penguin colonies around the coastline of Antarctica, with exactly half having been discovered by satellite imagery.
Thousands of emperor penguin chicks drowned when the sea-ice on which they were being raised was destroyed in severe weather. The catastrophe occurred in 2016 in Antarctica's Weddell Sea. Scientists say the colony at the edge of the Brunt Ice Shelf has collapsed with adult birds showing no sign of trying to re-establish the population.