Emperor penguins are also about to become extinct

The second largest population of emperor penguins is gradually disappearing after three consecutive years of not raising any penguins.

This population lives in the South Sea Weddell Sea, the southern ocean.

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The population of emperor penguins in the Weddell Sea of Antarctica is affected - (Photo: CNN).

According to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), in 2017 and 2018, severe storms continue to rob the lives of a series of penguins of this region, reported CNN.

The BAS study, published on May 23, said in the past 60 years, the sea ice has been relatively stable, so there are between 14,000 and 25,000 baby penguins born every year until recently, accounting for 5 -9% of the total number of emperor penguins in the world.

But in the past 3 years, penguin populations have fallen rapidly and severely affected.

Emperor penguins need stable ice to give birth, and the ice needs to be stable from April to December each year - the period from when the penguin comes to give birth until the penguin leave.

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Most penguins lost their lives in recent storms - (Photo: LIVE SCIENCE).

"It is not possible to confirm that the change in ice quality in this region is affected by climate change, but the loss of fertility is unprecedented in this region" - study co-author, Mr. Phil Trathan, penguin expert, affirmed.

"With the level of instability of the ecosystem, research shows that the number of individual emperor penguins is declining rapidly, about 50-70% by the end of the century" - he added.

On the other hand, when studying other populations in the region, scientists discovered penguin populations in Dawson Lambton waters, south of the Weddell Sea, the number of individuals increased almost tenfold, from 2,000 to 15,000. pair of penguins.

This suggests that many emperor penguins in the Weddell Sea have migrated to this region for better fertility when their habitat changes.

"When emperor penguins face poor living conditions, they will migrate to other regions instead of enduring in their old habitats," said Peter Fretwell, co-author of the study.

According to him, another worrying issue is that scientists had previously mistakenly believed that this sea area would not be affected by climate change because the temperature of this region was much lower.

Picture 3 of Emperor penguins are also about to become extinct
Penguins need stable ice from April to December each year to give birth - (Photo: TIMES).