Environment

Penguins in peril - marathon food search

by LotusFlower | February 13, 2009 at 12:00 pm

375 views | 50 Recommendations | 9 comments

Global warming is causing problems in finding food for penguins in Argentina.

The fluctuations year to year in weather is leading to them nesting in places that means that they have to swim the equivalent of two marathons in order to find food to feed their chicks and this is putting the colonies at risk.

It's been a bad year for penguins with other colonies also reported to be having difficulties this time due to melting ice.

Penguins from the largest colony on mainland South America are being forced to swim the equivalent of two marathons farther to find food because of the effects of climate change.

The survival of the Magellanic penguin colony at Punta Tombo, on the Atlantic coast of Argentina, is being threatened by the increasing distances the birds must travel to feed themselves and their chicks, research has shown.

Dee Boersma, of the University of Washington in Seattle, said that Punta Tombo penguins were now routinely swimming 25 miles farther on their foraging expeditions than they did a decade ago.

“That distance might not sound like much, but they also have to swim another 25 miles back, and they are swimming that extra 50 miles while their mates are back at the breeding grounds, sitting on a nest and starving,” she said.

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JeffHuang

at 12:48 on February 13th, 2009

I read that over-fishing is another reason for the penguins food crisis.

Amy Judd

at 13:57 on February 13th, 2009

Oh that's just so sad - that is too far for them to swim.

Barbara McPherson

at 14:02 on February 13th, 2009

We're witnessing extinctions in progress. There seems to be no will to change until we're forced to.

Pythiian1

at 20:16 on February 13th, 2009

Thanks for this alert about penguins. It's awful that they're starving and having to travel so far for food.

rpshen

at 15:02 on February 14th, 2009

That's awful! Especially the breeding part. With even longer distance than before, less penguins will survive the winter.

Jonathan Skelding

at 16:17 on February 14th, 2009

It's like a penguin city with 1 million birds going about their daily life, eating relaxing, socializing, fighting. They are so trusting allowing humans to walk among them and share their lives. We must return the favor and do what we can to protect this planet and environment for all those generous souls that live upon it.

Jonathan Skelding has contributed a photo to this story.