A world without penguins seems far-fetched, but recent reports indicate that the penguin population is in fact declining at a rate that could see the bird become entirely extinct in the near future. The documentary film “March of the Penguins” narrated by Morgan Freeman helped boost information and popularity for the animal, which now sees 13 of the 18 species either threatened or endangered. But more work is needed to combat the declining populations, researchers have said. In the past week, researchers have raised the specter of global warming as the leading culprit responsible for the decline of two species of Antarctic penguins: the Emperor and the Chinstrap. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) biologist Stephanie Jenouvrier has been studying the Emperor penguin and reports the Dion Islets colony dropped from 150 breeding pairs in 1948 to none in 2009. She and her colleagues warn that if global temperatures continue to rise, the Terre Adélie penguins may also disappear. The species relies on sea ice for breeding and raising their chicks. Disappearing ice increases the already high mortality among Emperor chicks. It also robs them of their food source, in a chain of losses that starts with plankton that grows beneath the ice and moves through the krill, squid and fish that feed on the plankton. Jenouvrier says: “Our best projections show roughly 500 to 600 breeding pairs remaining by the year 2100. Today, the population size is around 3000 breeding pairs." For penguin lovers out there, the time is now to put effort in to protecting the threatened birds.
