Thousands of emperor penguins in Antarctica disappeared after a night

Thousands of young penguins drowned when the typhoon caused a massive collapse of the Antarctic ice sheet, leading to the disappearance of the world's second largest penguin.

According to Independent, new research by scientists shows that the ice collapse in Halley Bay in 2016 caused paralysis of the world's second largest emperor penguins.

Typically, 15,000-24,000 pairs of emperor penguins will gather together to mate. This number accounts for 5-9% of the global emperor penguins.

Picture 1 of Thousands of emperor penguins in Antarctica disappeared after a night
Emperor penguins are the largest penguin species in the world.

During the past time, scientists no longer see any emperor penguin in the area. Scientists use satellites to capture high-quality photos.

'We have never seen a large number of emperor penguins stop reproducing like this for 60 years , ' said one of the team members, Phil Trathan.

Emperor penguins need large and stable ice sheets to make breeding grounds. But the 2016 storm made all changes. As a result, the entire emperor penguin community in Halley Bay has disappeared.

The adult penguins that survived the storm seemed to have moved to the nearby Dawson-Lambton area.

'But the number of emperor penguins in Dawson-Lambton is not equivalent to the flock of penguins disappearing in Halley Bay,' said Trathan. 'Not all penguins come to Dawson-Lambton'.

Emperor penguins are the largest penguin species, weighing up to 40kg and have a lifespan of about 20 years. They hatch the eggs and take care of the young, each pair only has 1 baby. After they grow up, they will take their young children to the sea.

Trathan said: 'It is not clear whether the storm swept away the penguin community in Halley Bay related to climate change. But the disappearance of the second largest penguin community in the world is unprecedented. '

According to scientists, the number of emperor penguins globally will be reduced by 50-70% until before this century has passed because of melting ice.

New research is published in the journal Antarctic Science.