They survived the hunters: now king penguins face climate change
Once hunted to the brink of extinction, the thousands of king penguins that densely congregate on the remote Possession Island each year now face a new threat: climate change.
Once hunted to the brink of extinction, the thousands of king penguins that densely congregate on the remote Possession Island each year now face a new threat: climate change.
Plants & Animals
Dec 29, 2022
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A trio of researchers—one with the Indian government's Ministry of Earth Sciences, another with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and the third with the National Institute of Advanced Studies, also in India—has ...
Greater conservation efforts are needed to protect Antarctic ecosystems, and the populations of up to 97% of land-based Antarctic species could decline by 2100 if we don't change tack, our new research has found.
Environment
Dec 23, 2022
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Existing conservation efforts are insufficient to protect Antarctic ecosystems, and population declines are likely for 65% of the continent's plants and wildlife by the year 2100, according to a study by Jasmine Rachael Lee ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 22, 2022
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Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced that emperor penguins have been listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) based on evidence that the animal's sea ice habitat is shrinking ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 25, 2022
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Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and European research institutions are calling for better protections for juvenile emperor penguins, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers listing the ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 31, 2022
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A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in Italy, working with a colleague from Finland, has found that African penguins are capable of vocal accommodation. In their paper published in Proceedings of the ...
CSIRO researchers have found that the fungus, Venturia paralias, specifically attacks the invasive coastal weed called sea spurge (Euphorbia paralias), which threatens nesting sites of native species including little penguins ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 23, 2022
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Record-breaking heatwaves hit both Antarctica and the Arctic simultaneously this week, with temperatures reaching 47℃ and 30℃ higher than normal.
Environment
Mar 22, 2022
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In June 2021, an unprecedented heat wave hit the Pacific Northwest and Canada, killing an estimated 1,400 people. On June 28, Seattle reached 108 F—an all-time high—while the village of Lytton in British Columbia recorded ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 4, 2022
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Aptenodytes Eudyptes Eudyptula Megadyptes Pygoscelis Spheniscus For prehistoric genera, see Systematics
Penguins (order Sphenisciformes, family Spheniscidae) are a group of aquatic, flightless birds living almost exclusively in the southern hemisphere, especially in Antarctica, where they are most well-known for living. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershaded dark and white plumage, and their wings have become flippers. Most penguins feed on krill, fish, squid, and other forms of sealife caught while swimming underwater. They spend about half of their life on land and half in the oceans.
Although all penguin species are native to the southern hemisphere, they are not found only in cold climates, such as Antarctica. In fact, only a few species of penguin live so far south. Several species are found in the temperate zone, and one species, the Galápagos Penguin, lives near the equator.
The largest living species is the Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri): adults average about 1.1 m (3 ft 7 in) tall and weigh 35 kg (75 lb) or more. The smallest penguin species is the Little Blue Penguin (also known as the Fairy Penguin), which stands around 40 cm tall (16 in) and weighs 1 kg (2.2 lb). Among extant penguins, larger penguins inhabit colder regions, while smaller penguins are generally found in temperate or even tropical climates (see also Bergmann's Rule). Some prehistoric species attained enormous sizes, becoming as tall or as heavy as an adult human (see below for more). These were not restricted to Antarctic regions; on the contrary, subantarctic regions harboured high diversity, and at least one giant penguin occurred in a region not quite 2,000 km south of the equator 35 mya, in a climate decidedly warmer than today.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA