Climate change drives dramatic collapse of the world’s largest penguin colony in Antarctica

Scientists from the British Antarctic Survey have documented a severe reduction in the number of breeding pairs on Zavodovski Island, once the world’s largest penguin breeding site. Published in Current Biology, the research attributes the decline chiefly to climate change, which pushes krill—the main food source for chinstrap penguins—southward, making it harder for the birds to feed. Drone and satellite imagery reveal a dramatic contraction of the colony over more than a decade, while volcanic ash from the 2016 eruption of Mount Curry appears to have had little impact.

In contrast, the population of golden-crowned albatrosses on the island has grown, suggesting that a more varied diet offers resilience to shifting prey availability. The authors warn that the trend could spread across the South Sandwich Islands, which host a substantial share of the global chinstrap penguin population, and recommend that the IUCN reassess the species’ conservation status.