Death of 150,000 Penguins in Antarctica

The collapse of a massive floating ice mass in Antarctica has resulted in the death of over 150,000 penguins. According to The Guardian, this ice mass, which is the size of Rome, Italy, has destroyed the habitat of these penguins. They have been forced to swim nearly sixty kilometers in the ocean to find food, leading to the death of a large portion of their population. Initially, their habitat was near open waters, but in 2010, the arrival of this floating ice mass, covering an area of 2,900 square kilometers, trapped them in their living area. Over the past six years, this exhausting daily journey has caused the death of most of the penguins residing in this region. From an initial population of 160,000, only 10,000 penguins have survived. According to CNN, more than five thousand remaining pairs continue to breed, but the frequency of mating and the number of chicks born have significantly decreased. The Climate Change Research Center at the University of New South Wales in Australia reports that if this floating ice mass does not melt or if the penguins' habitat does not become untrapped in the next twenty years, the remaining population will also perish. 'This event has provided researchers with a natural experiment to closely observe the effects of floating icebergs and rising sea levels, which are a result of global warming and the melting of polar ice.'