Antarctic Chinstrap Penguins colonies decline by more than 75 per cent over 50 years

Scientists have reportedly predicted that penguin colonies in some parts of Antarctica have drastically declined by a shocking 75 per cent over past half-century due to climate change. According to the reports, Chinstrap Penguins found on the Elephant Island, also renowned as ringed or bearded penguins, have diminished due to a loss of habitat.

The scientists from the Greenpeace Mission at the penguin habitat northeast of the Antarctic Peninsula told international media reporters that the Penguins have experienced drastic population fall since they were last surveyed 50 years ago in the year 1971. They said that the biggest decline of penguins about 77 per cent was recorded at the Chinstrap Camp colony. There was a total of 122,550 pairs of penguins on Elephant Island, but the count has revealed that only 52,786 pairs are remaining.

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Reduced sea level and melting ice caps

Scientists attributed the decline to the reduced sea level and melting of ice caps due to the rise in global temperature, suggest reports. Noah Strycker, an ornithologist and penguin researcher at Stony Brook University told the media that Climate change was the underlying factor for the reduction of krill, the main component of penguins' diet, its impact was rippling through the food chain.

Penguins, seals, and whales all depend on krill, which depends on ice. Therefore if climate change affects the ice, that impacts everything else, he added. The decline has hit the Chinstrap penguins severely.

Heather J. Lynch, associate professor of ecology and evolution at New York's Stony Brook University and one of the expedition's research leads told the reporters that Antarctic region has hit an all-time high temperature, 18.3 degree Celsius, that dismantled the food web resulting in the significant decline in penguins and altered the Southern Ocean's ecosystem in last 50 years.

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(With Agency inputs)