Hundreds of Mummified Penguins Found in Antarctica is a Scary Wake-Up Call for What’s Coming Next
The blue planet of the solar system and our home, Earth is said to be approximately 4.54 billion years old, as per a report by Science Notes. Humankind, strangely, has only existed for the past millions of years and there is no way we can anticipate or predict the atmospheric events the planet has evolved from. However, an international team of scientists discovered a fascinating location in East Antarctica that offers a glimpse into the extreme climatic events of the past that resulted in mass mortalities of hundreds of Adelie penguins, per a 2018 study published in the journal Advancing Earth and Space Sciences.
Environmental geochemist Liguang Sun led a team of researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China and stumbled on a graveyard of mummified Adelie penguin carcasses during an expedition to Long Peninsula in January 2016. The well-preserved dehydrated carcasses of the Adelie penguins with intact skeletal structures, skin, and feathers, were a result of “extreme climatic anomalies” that reportedly lasted two decades about 750 years ago. Further analysis of the sediment around the mummies revealed that the Antarctic natives died due to heavy rains caused by an influx of moist air masses. "Most of the carcasses are chicks, as judged by size and porous bone surfaces,” the paper stated.
The study explained that the heavy rainfall claimed the lives of hundreds of penguin chicks because of their inability to survive harsh weather like snow or rain. Chicks do not have waterproof feathers like their adult counterparts and hence, cannot protect themselves from such anomalous conditions. Some penguin chick species experience a shocking 90% mortality within the first year of life, as per a Seaworld report. Quite tragically, the carcasses were distributed all over Long Peninsula, finding about 10 to 15 carcasses per square meter.
"Unlike adult penguins that have feathers to insulate them from cold water, downy chicks lack waterproof plumage and when exposed to rain and snow, chicks can suffer from high mortality and slow growth due to hypothermia,” the authors stated. The scientists collated the atmospheric conditions that caused the fatalities with present-day climate conditions and deduced a similar pattern. The paper explained that the conditions “correspond” with modern observations and may persist at the current pace of climate change. "The mortality events revealed in this study could become an increasing threat to penguins," the authors wrote.
Lead author Sun offered his viewpoint on the study. He noted that while global warming is believed to continue at the current pace or worsen and “humankind needs to do more and slow” the trend for the sake of these animals and the future of Earth. Despite efforts, the history of penguin graveyards is likely to repeat and "become part of a disturbing ‘new normal’ for the species over time," the study hypothesized.
However, the researchers anticipate that the warming climates will pose a greater and much harsher risk to the existence of penguins. Interestingly, Adelie penguins have managed to evade the list of endangered species because of their diverse colonies spread across Antarctica. But that has not been the case for other penguin species as researchers identified a “complete breeding failure” during the 2013/2014 season after 100% of chicks of 34,000 breeding penguins died due to prolonged rainfall and snowfall, per Science Alert.