Study: 150,000 Antarctica penguins die after iceberg grounding

SYDNEY: Some 150,000penguins died after a massive iceberg grounded near their colony in Antarctica, forcingthemtomakea lengthytrektofindfood, scientists say in a newly-published study.

The B09B iceberg, measuring some 100 square kilometres, grounded in Commonwealth Bay in East Antarctica in December 2010, the researchers from AustraliaandNewZealandwrote in the Antarctic Science journal.

The Adelie penguin population at the bay’s Cape Denison was measured to be about 160,000 in February 2011 but by December 2013 ithadplungedtoanestimated 10,000, they said.

The iceberg’s groundingmeant the penguins had to walk more than 60km tofind food, impeding their breeding attempts, said the researchers from the University of New South Wales’ (UNSW) ClimateChangeResearchCentre and New Zealand’s West Coast Penguin Trust.

“The Cape Denison population could be extirpated within 20 yearsunlessB09Brelocatesorthe nowperennial fast ice within the baybreaks out,” theywrote in the research published in February.

During their census in December 2013, the researchers said “hundreds of abandoned eggs were noted, and the ground was litteredwith the freeze-dried carcasses of previous season’s chicks”.

“It’s eerily silent now,” UNSW’s Chris Turney, who led the 2013 expedition, told the Sydney Morning Herald Friday.– AFP