Heartbreaking Story: 150,000 Adelie Penguins Dead, as Iceberg Dooms Rest of Colony

An Antarctic iceberg the size of a major city that's blocked access to the sea since 2010 for thousands of Adelie penguins threatens to completely wipe out the colony.

Once 160,000 strong, the flightless birds now number only 10,000 after being forced to waddle some 40 miles in search of food, according to new research from the Climate Change Research Center at Australia’s University of New South Wales.

Scientists predict the colony will vanish in 20 years unless the ice breaks up or the giant iceberg, which measures 1,000 square miles, is somehow dislodged.

The penguins of Cape Denison traditionally have relied on easy access to the ocean for feeding. But an ice floe that gradually increased in size pressed in on the bay. Six years ago, it made contact with the land and effectively sealed off the bird's traditional route to the sea. Many penguins could not successfully complete the long trek to another sea outlet now required for feeding.

“The arrival of iceberg B09B in Commonwealth Bay, East Antarctica, and subsequent fast ice expansion has dramatically increased the distance Adélie penguins breeding at Cape Denison must travel in search of food,” the researchers wrote in an article in Antarctic Science.

"It's eerily silent now," Chris Turney, a climate change professor with the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, which has been tracking the penguins' decline, told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"The ones that we saw at Cape Denison were incredibly docile, lethargic, almost unaware of your existence," he said. "The ones that are surviving are clearly struggling. They can barely survive themselves, let alone hatch the next generation. We saw lots of dead birds on the ground ... it's just heartbreaking to see."

The birds will not migrate, he added. "They're stuck there," he said. "They're dying."

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Australia’s Oldest Man at 109 Knits Adorable Sweaters for Penguins

Alfie Date began knitting in 1932 when he was just twenty-six years old, but it wasn’t until 2013 when Australia’s oldest man started knitting sweaters for Phillip Island’s little penguin population.

The penguins, who were still being affected by an oil spill that occurred in 2001, had been unintentionally swallowing dangerous chemicals as they attempted to clean the oil off their feathers. When he heard about the Penguin Foundation of Phillip Island’s call for knitters to create “jumpers” for the flightless birds, the 109-year-old Alfie put his eighty-plus years of experience to work.

Phillip Island is home to about 32,000 little penguins. They are the smallest penguins in the world, and the only species with blue (rather than black) and white feathers as an adult.

Their feathers are waterproof when clean, but when oiled they can separate and leave the penguin open to exposure. The sweaters, besides preventing the penguins from swallowing toxic oil, keep the little penguins warm, dry, and snuggly, and ultimately keep them alive.

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