Antarctica

According to a new study, thousands of baby emperor penguins drowned last year in Antarctica after sea ice broke up early. The British Antarctic Survey is blaming climate change and says satellite images suggest as many as 10,000 baby penguins may have died. Emperor penguins are the largest of the…

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand -- The howling winds and perpetual darkness of the Antarctic winter were easing to a frozen spring when mechanic Liz Monahon at McMurdo Station grabbed a hammer. If those in charge weren’t going to protect her from the man she feared would kill her, she figured, she…

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand -- Many women who work at McMurdo Station, the main United States research base in Antarctica, say the isolated environment and macho culture have allowed sexual harassment and assault to flourish. The National Science Foundation, which oversees the U.S. Antarctic Program, published a report in 2022 in…

Author of the article: The Associated Press Nick Perry Published Aug 27, 2023  •  2 minute read CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — Many women who work at McMurdo Station, the main United States research base in Antarctica, say the isolated environment and macho culture have allowed sexual harassment and assault…

Thousands of penguin chicks in four emperor penguin colonies likely died after Antarctic ice broke up earlier than usual last year, creating a “catastrophic breeding failure.” In a study published this week in Communications Earth & Environment, researchers from the British Antarctic Survey outlined the very high probability that most…

Scientists say the loss of ice around Antarctica is hurting the survival of emperor penguin chicks. Emperor penguins hatch their eggs and raise their chicks on the ice that forms around the continent each winter and melts in the summer months. The researchers reported Thursday that it appears that none…

Emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) chicks are at risk of drowning if there is too little sea ice. (Image credit: Peter Fretwell/BAS)A massive die-off has hit emperor penguin chicks from four colonies in West Antarctica due to record-smashing low sea ice this year, a new study finds. The finding supports predictions…

Emperor penguin chicks emerge from their eggs in the coldest days of Antarctica’s winter. For the first months of their lives the birds are defenseless gray fluffballs, seeking warmth at their parents’ feet or in protective scrums at the center of their colony. Unlike their parents, whose sleek black-and-white feathers…

Disappearing sea ice is taking a toll on the youngest members of the largest species of penguins, new research finds. Emperor Penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) are born into the darkness of Antarctica’s long winter and then fledge around December, when the days of the Southern Hemisphere’s summer are longest. Until fledging—when…

Life For just the second time, biologists have spotted a gentoo penguin with melanism, a genetic condition that results in unusually dark feathers By Corryn Wetzel This unusual gentoo penguin has exceptionally dark plumage Rocio Nigro, Anahi M. Silvestro, Mariana Juares and Pamela Di Marco A gentoo penguin with unusually…