Researchers find Antarctic penguin breeding is heating up sooner
NPR • • general
Key Points:
- Antarctic penguins are breeding about two weeks earlier than a decade ago due to a 3°C temperature increase from 2012 to 2022, disrupting the timing of food availability for their chicks, according to a study in the Journal of Animal Ecology.
- This shift in breeding timing is the fastest observed in any vertebrate species, occurring over just 10 years, much quicker than similar changes documented in other birds like European great tits.
- Climate change is creating competition among three brush-tailed penguin species: gentoo penguins are breeding earlier and overlapping with Adelie and chinstrap penguins, leading to displacement and declines in the latter two species.
- Chinstrap and Adelie penguins, which primarily eat krill
