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Is penguin health and the penguin population a barometer for the health of Earth's seas? Oil spills are only occasional events, but anyone who visits a beach can see the litter that's left behind. Half of the world's 17 penguin species are now endangered or at risk of becoming so. Several species - including the erect-crested, rockhopper, Adelie, and Chinstrap - have all experienced population declines of up to 50 percent in the last 30 years.
So what do the problems with penguins have to do with the state of Earth's oceans? University of Washington professor Dee Boersma has studied penguins for nearly 30 years. She blames the current plight of the penguins on human activities that have affected the oceans. "Penguins are in trouble," she explains. As for the relationship between penguin health and the health of Earth's oceans, Boersma says that the birds "certainly are canaries in the coal mine".
Temperate Zones
Do you envision all of the planet's penguins living in Antarctica, surviving months of sunless blizzards? Think again! Many of the planet's penguin species, such as the yellow-eyed and African penguins, live in temperate areas. Still, the Galapagos penguins number about 2,500 birds now - a quarter of their total in the 1970s.
Because these species live nearer to humans than their southern relatives, they face threats from commercial fishing, guano mining, and oil drilling. Egg harvesting and oil spills are also two major threats to temperate penguin species.
Antarctic Penguins
Many penguins live on the icy glaciers of Antarctica, of course. Recently, I've been watching the Planet Earth TV series on the Discovery Channel. It's pretty interesting to see the male Emperor penguins huddle together during the dark months of winter snow storms to incubate the eggs.
But how much longer will they be able to do so? Although the East Antarctic ice sheet (the largest such area in the world) hasn't been affected much by the current climate change, scientists have recently seen a loss of some glaciers and sea ice caused by rising temperatures.
For penguins, less ice means less territory. It also means less krill (small, shrimp-like animals) for them to feed on, so the penguins must travel farther through the icy water to find food. It also means that the seasons are changing. A study published in BioScience found that some baby penguins were unable to survive because they could not grow a waterproof coating of feathers in time to survive freezing waters.
Options
What can be done for the penguins and other species that swim the planet's oceans?
- Scientists recommend formal counting and tracking of the penguins to better understand population dynamics.
- Dee Boersma suggests creating a coalition to monitor and protect the world's 43 major groups of penguins (limit pollution, fishing, etc.) – with benefits to other animals, too.
- Look at what we're doing to the oceans in general – because what's bad for the ocean animals can't be good for people, either.
Resources:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/07/01/eapenguin101.xml
http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/human-influences-challenge-penguin-populations.html
http://www.aibs.org/bioscience-editorials/editorial_2008_07.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguin
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Re: Penguins in Peril
