2019-01-01_Discover

44 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM

FLORA & FAUNA

From huge penguin colonies to the tiniest of ies, researchers are making some

extreme discoveries about Earth’s biodiversity — and the threats it faces.

BY MARK BARNA

Holy Tuxedo! It’s a Penguin-palooza!

Discovering a giant animal

colony is a big deal. Discovering

two, just miles apart, is crazy. But

that’s what scientists found off the

Antarctic Peninsula.

In Scientic Reports in March,

researchers announced the

discovery of two new Adélie

penguin colonies on the Danger

Islands, a 22-mile-long archipelago

on the northeast tip of the

peninsula, which juts toward Chile.

Only two other penguin colonies

in the world are larger. Altogether,

they counted 1.5 million birds on

the islands, more than doubling the

region’s population.

The islands, surrounded by

waters rich in krill (the penguins’

main food source), have long

been known as a popular penguin

hangout. But the size of both

populations, spotted and then

counted using satellite imagery

and drones, was unexpected,

says Heather Lynch, an ecologist

at Stony Brook University and

senior author of the paper.

The marine birds aren’t faring so

well on the peninsula’s west side,

Antarctica’s rocky Danger Islands (above) are

home to millions of penguins, including two

giant new colonies tallied using overhead

imagery (right), partly from drones (below).

Danger Islands

SOUTH AMERICA

ANTARCTICA