LESS ICE MAKES P-P-PENGUINS PERKIER!

HOT news from the Antarctic: the penguins are prospering. And why is that interesting? Because this is the creature which was supposed to be the principal victim of climate change and the consequent loss of sea ice. Yet last week, researchers from Japan’s National Institute of Polar Research produced a report showing that the Adélie penguin (whose only home is the Antarctic) has been thriving like never before — and it’s because of the changing habitat. Having tagged 175 of these endearing birds, the scientists discovered that the penguins caught more krill because of the loss of ice. ‘Counterintuitively for this ice-dependent species, body conditions and breeding success improved in the ice-free environment,’ they explained.

One of the researchers added: ‘For penguins, swimming is a whopping four times faster than walking’, so they were able to forage in larger areas for shorter periods of time.

And what of that creature even more loved by humans: the polar bear? Three years ago a National Geographic video of a solitary starving polar bear, its rib cage distressingly visible, became an internet sensation, watched by an estimated 2.5 billion people.

‘This is what climate change looks like,’ said National Geographic.

Well, that particular polar bear was clearly in a bad way. But over the past 15 years, the polar bear population has risen from around 22,500 to as much as 31,000, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Meanwhile, the Adélie penguins are loving the climate. Can we be forgiven for driving cars now?