On Tuesday 24 January, Veterinary Officers and Falkland Landholdings representatives visited Berthas Beach following reports of several juvenile Gentoo penguin deaths. The unwell and dead penguins that were reported displayed severe penguin pox lesions.
The Veterinary Service section from the Falkland Islands Department of Agriculture has announced that it has received a reported outbreak of avian pox amongst Gentoo penguins in the Falklands.
Greenpeace reports that data from the National Sea Ice Data Center shows that this year Antarctic sea ice will reach the lowest extent on satellite record. Preliminary measurements show the sea ice around the continent has surpassed the previous record minimum set, in March 2017, of 2.1 million square kilometers, dropping to 1.98 million square kilometers on Sunday 20 February.
By Laura Geggel – Scientists have discovered a previously unknown colony of gentoo penguins in one of the southernmost spots these waddling birds have ever been spotted. The discovery is a cause for concern, according to the researchers, who say that climate change is expanding the range of this temperate, non-ice-loving species of penguin.
Gentoo penguins are benefiting from a newly enlarged no-fishing zone (known as a No-Take Zone NTZ) around the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia following British Antarctic Survey (BAS) tracking research commissioned by the RSPB.
By University of Bath – Gentoo penguins should be reclassified as four separate species, say scientists at the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, after analyzing the genetic and physical differences between populations around the southern hemisphere.
Two female gentoo penguins are new moms at an aquarium in Spain and are raising the baby chick they adopted as an egg.
By Chloe May - On 25 April every year, people around the world celebrate World Penguin Day - a day to raise awareness of the plight these flightless birds are currently facing. This takes place at the same time as the annual northern migration of Antarctica’s Adelie penguins and was created as a way for researchers at an American research centre on Ross Island to pass time and raise awareness.
Penguin Awareness Day is an unofficial holiday which is celebrated annually on January 20th. This holiday is used to celebrate and commemorate these fascinating flightless birds which are loved by people all over the world. It’s also a day to bring attention to the plight of these birds whose numbers seem to be shrinking faster and faster each and every day.
Data sent from penguins to space and back to University of British Columbia could help researchers determine why the species’ breeding population fluctuates so dramatically. UBC researchers visited the South Atlantic in April to attach small transmitters to the backs of 66 Gentoo penguins from two colonies in the Falkland Islands