Giant iceberg kills 150,000 penguins

Scientists estimate that 150,000 Adelie penguins living along the Antarctic coast have died after an iceberg larger than the city of Rome, isolating their habitat, making them stranded on land.

Large swarms of penguins live on Denison's nose in Commonwealth Bay once living near the open waters of food-rich open waters. However, in 2010, a giant iceberg of about 2,900 square kilometers (named B09B) was stuck in the bay, making the territory of this species separate from the sea.

Therefore, the penguins are forced to cross the 120km journey to the coast to find fish but not all of them are able to go all the way to the end of the journey. Many baby penguins are cold to death and penguin parents even abandon their eggs.

Flock of Adelie penguins in Antarctica.(Photo: Alamy).

This arduous journey has severely affected the number of individuals in the herd and caused their population density to decline seriously. According to a study conducted by the Center for Climate Change Research at the University of New South Wales in Australia, from 2011 to now, the population of Adelie penguins, including 160,000, has declined to 10,000.

Scientists predict that these penguins could disappear completely in 20 years if the giant B09B iceberg is not separated. Adelie penguins have been recorded in this area for over 100 years, but now the prospects for the remaining 10,000 penguins on Denison's nose are not satisfactory.

The iceberg B09B, larger than the Italian city of Rome, floated near the South East coast about 20 years before hitting a glacier and trapped in Commonwealth Bay.

The giant ice B-09B stuck in the bay.(Photo: antartica.gov.au).

Professor Chris Turney of the University of New South Wales said: "We saw a lot of penguin corpses on the ground . It's heartbreaking! The penguins we see on Denison's nose are so innocent. and hardly pay attention to your existence, but the surviving ones are struggling to survive. They themselves are hard to survive, let alone mating reproduction for the next generation. "

The existence of this penguin is threatened by the effects of icebergs.(Photo: New York Times).

Researchers identified on the Antarctic Science site: "The emergence of the iceberg B09B in Commonwealth Bay in the East Antarctic and the rapid expansion of the ice area significantly increased the distance that the Adelie penguin in the bay Denison has to move to find food. They can disappear in just 20 years unless B09B comes out or the bay's permafrost cracks. This makes us study the impact of openness. wide area of ​​freezing along the East South Pole coastline and of trapped giant icebergs ".