According to a recent report published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, up to 10,000 emperor penguin chicks across four colonies in Antarctica’s Bellingshausen Sea may have died as the sea ice underneath their breeding grounds melted and broke apart in late 2022.
- The sea ice disappeared before the start of the emperor chicks’ fledging period, during which they develop their waterproof adult wings and learn to swim.
- The role of stable sea ice in the emperor penguin breeding cycle is crucial.
- “Emperor penguins spend their whole breeding cycle on the sea ice. They need it to last from early April until late December.
- The birds arrive from the sea to their preferred breeding sites on sea-ice in late March to April.
- They court and mate, and then lay eggs in May and June. Eggs hatch in August after which parent emperor penguins take turns to feed their chick.
- Wild Emperor penguins are only found in Antarctica.
- Emperors are the biggest of the 18 species of penguin found today, and one of the largest of all birds.
