Penguins and Climate Change

       In the past sixty years the Adélie penguin colony on Beaufort Island, in the Ross Sea south of New Zealand, has had an 84% increase of population going form 35,000 to 64,000 breeding pairs.  As the glaciers have continuously been retreating from the island that the penguins reside on there is now more land that is available for the penguins to make nests.  Another reasons suggested for the increase of population is the increase of prey availability.  On the other hand, sea ice has declined in Antarctica bringing other penguin colonies to decline in population.  
     These Adélie penguins are smaller than Emperor penguins, only between 18 and 30 inches tall, and only ten to twelve pounds in weight.  They are listed in the near-threatened category by the International Union for Conservation of Nature due to the expected 'moderately rapid population decline'.  These numbers have been concluded through the effects projected of climate change from a 2012 study by IUCN.



Original Article From OurAmazingPlanet: How Climate Change May Help Penguin Colony
 Study from PLOS ONE Journal: Climate Change Winners: Receding Ice Fields Facilitate Colony Expansion and Altered Dynamics in an Adélie Penguin Metapopulation

Main, Douglas. "How Climate Change May Help Penguin Colony." Our Amazing Planet - Life. Our Amazing Planet, 5 Apr. 2013. Web. 7 Apr. 2013. <http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/4333-climate-change-adelie-penguins.html>.