Thousands of penguins die in Antarctic ice breakup

[Fallax]

Climate change: Thousands of penguins die in Antarctic ice breakup

A catastrophic die-off of emperor penguin chicks has been observed in the Antarctic, with up to 10,000 young birds estimated to have been killed.

The sea-ice on which the chicks were being raised broke up before they had fully developed the waterproof feathers needed to swim in the ocean. The birds most likely drowned or froze to death.

The event, in late 2022, occurred in the west of the continent in an area fronting on to the Bellingshausen Sea.

The article provides some images showing the breakup of the ice. If it really is 10,000 that is a staggering amount... And this will likely only increase in the future as events like these are more likely to occur.

 

[JVM]

I read this story the other day and it's still trapped in my mind. What a terrible, awful thing. The breeding habits of these animals have been immortalized in pop culture for years, and it's so upsetting to imagine such a staggering amount of young birds dying for reasons they probably could not fully perceive and that their parents had no hope to overcome, and it really makes you realize that if this becomes a regular event, just how doomed the species is... but also, at the same time, these animals are essentially the ambassadors of the continent entirely, far more associated with Antarctica in the public imagination than even other penguin species.

What does an Antarctica look like without them, to the general public? Empty, barren and soulless.