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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