Penguin Watch Talk

Thawed out

  • lgstarn by lgstarn

    Look at all those chicks! It's an ocean of brown.

    Are such scenes likely to be more common with climate change?

    Posted

  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator

    Hi Igstam 😃

    Climate change may affect the food they feed on. King penguins mostly live on lantern fish. Those lantern fish feed on plankton. Plankton thrive in colder waters which support more dissolved oxygen. If seas become warmer they may fail the plankton, and therefore the lantern fish, and therefore the penguins.

    What we see in this picture is a huge creche of chicks waiting for their parents to return from their feeding trip. It is not a sign of a large number of penguins having died 😃

    If a change in weather made this area wetter this might also stress the chicks more too.

    Posted