VERY ROUGHLY,
YOU LOSE ONE
ADÉLIE, YOU LOSE
ONE CHINSTRAP,
YOU GAIN A
GENTOO.”
—Tom Hart, penguin
biologist, Oxford
UniversityGentoo penguins
on the Antarctic Penin-
sula nest around an
old whale vertebra, a
relic of the days when
whaling was common
in the region. Winter
temper atures here have
risen a mind-boggling
11 degrees Fahrenheit
(six degrees Celsius)
since 1950, more than
five times the global
average. The sea-ice
season is now about
three months shorter
than it used to be.
Chinstrap and Adélie
penguins, which hunt
krill offshore and
depend on sea ice,
are in decline. But the
more flexible gentoos
are thriving on ice-free
beaches and waters.
Their global popula-
tion has increased
sixfold since the 1980s.Neko Harbor, Antarctica PHOTOGRAPH BY THOMAS P. PESCHAK
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