EARTHWEEK
‘Supercolony’
Scientists studying satellite images found evidence of a “supercolony” of penguins that now live on some remote islands off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.
A drone survey of those Danger Islands revealed that there were about 1.5 million Adélie penguins on the jagged outcroppings, living in some of the largest colonies in the world.
The study finds that the newly discovered supercolony appears to have avoided recent Adélie declines elsewhere along the peninsula, which are probably due to sea ice decline.
Simian syllables
German researchers studying the evolution of human speech have discovered that all of the calls produced by marmoset monkeys are made up of individual syllables of fixed length, similar to humans.
While it’s rude to interrupt other people when they are speaking, the team from Germany’s University of Tübingen interrupted the small monkeys in the study with white noise, causing them to fall quiet in the middle of their vocalizations.
The scientists found that among the “tsiks,” “ekks,” “phees” and other sounds uttered by the South American marmosets, the animals would stop only at specific points within the call.
This revealed the primates communicate with individual syllables much like humans, who speak with syllables that are about a seventh of a second long on average.
Leopard losses
Conservationists and officials in India say they are alarmed at the staggering loss of 106 leopards during the first two months of this year alone in forested areas of the country.
Only 12 of the big cats appear to have died of natural causes, while many of the other deaths are being blamed on poachers who hunt the animals for their prized hides and other body parts.
Officials say habitat loss, especially due to expanding agriculture, is also a growing threat to the leopards.
Eruptions
The strongest eruptions of Japan’s Shinmoedake volcano in years sent huge plumes of ash and other debris soaring thousands of feet above Kirishima city.
Residents wore surgical masks, or otherwise covered their faces, to prevent breathing in the falling ash.
Southern melt
The layer of sea ice ringing Antarctica shrank to its second lowest level on record during the past few weeks just as the Southern Hemisphere summer began to wane.
Researchers at the Australian Antarctic Division said in a statement that the ice reached its lowest coverage on Feb. 18 but remained above the record low set in March 2017.
These two record minimums ended a trend that saw historic highs in sea ice coverage around the frozen continent during each year from 2012 to 2014. Some researchers attributed that increase to hemispheric winds, strengthened by global warming, collecting the ice around Antarctica, and not cooler temperatures freezing more of the sea.
Tropical cyclones
Northern Vanuatu was drenched as Cyclone Hola formed over the South Pacific island nation.
• Cyclone Dumazile passed between the Indian Ocean island of Réunion and Madagascar’s eastern coast.
Earthquakes
At least 18 people died in the strongest aftershock to rock Papua New Guinea’s earthquake disaster zone. An estimated 67 people had already died from the massive Feb. 26 temblor.
• The strongest tremor to strike Oklahoma in months caused light damage.
• Earth movements were also felt in Jamaica, El Salvador, Iran and Taiwan.