The Adélie penguins of Antarctica in great danger

Up to 150,000 Adélie penguins have ‘gone missing’ from a colony in Antarctica since a huge iceberg disrupted their access to the sea, writes Richard Collins. 

Australian and New Zealand scientists have recorded a 90% decline in the numbers breeding at Cape Dennison in Commonwealth Bay.

Writing in the journal Antarctic Science, they warn that the colony could disappear completely within 20 years unless the berg disintegrates or moves on. The demise, they say, has ‘important implications for wider east Antarctica if the current increasing sea-ice trend continues’.