Antarctica's Emperor Penguins - the Last Hurrah
Antarctica's Emperor Penguins - the Last Hurrah
By prisca.campbell
Our friends at the British Antarctic Survey and Scott Polar Research Institute reported the first documented disappearance of an Emperor Penguin colony. The Emperor Island colony was first identified in 1948 and it was small - only 150 breeding paris. For comparison, the Snow Hill Island colony has about 4,000 breeding pairs. The colony's decline was first noted in the 1970s. A satellite survey conducted in 2009 failed to find any last trace.
Farewell to the Emperors
Kapitan Khlebnikov will be visiting Emperor Penguin colonies during the icebreakers farewell voyages in Antarctica. The first one is sold out. The last - the final voyage of the ship's illustrious career - still has some berths.
Access not Doom and Gloom
The BAS report does not claim that the entire species is on the decline. The authors do speculate on possible explanations - one of which is global warming. Our farewell to the Emperors is due to the retirement of Kapitan Khlebnikov. Emperor Penguin colonies are difficult to access in conventional expedition vessels.
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