t is one of the most desolate to this chinstrap stronghold to survey places on Earth. The ice-capped the breeding population. The chinstrap mountain of Elephant Island is may be the most abundant of Antarctica’s an inhospitable crag whose sheer penguins, with an estimated 7.5 million cliffs feel the full force of the breeding pairs, but their populations Southern Ocean on all sides. Yet, have plummeted in the past 40 years. each December, this tiny Antarctic Signy, Deception and Penguin Islands, Penguin Ioutpost transforms into a riot of sound for instance, have experienced declines and colour as tens of thousands of of 50–70 per cent. By carrying out counts chinstrap penguins gather here to breed. on Elephant Island, last surveyed in Nesting in rookeries almost 200m 1971, plus a string of other, little-studied above the sea, these charismatic birds – islands, the team wanted to find out if the named for the thin black line that gives pattern was true elsewhere. them a helmeted appearance – stain huge swathes of the island pink with guano. Bird’s-eye view The stench is matched in intensity only Day one involves scaling a 70m cliff to Puzzle by the noise. “It’s like being in a football count one of the island’s largest colonies. Antarctica’s chinstrap stadium – it’s an assault on your senses,” Thousands of penguins gather in the penguins are in decline, says Noah Strycker, one of four penguin amphitheatre-like space below, watching biologists that I accompanied to this over their fluffball chicks, while others their demise a sign of remote outpost in early January. splash in an acrid pool. One solitary Elephant Island – so called because individual stands guard on a raised greater changes at play. of the elephant seals that sprawl on its pinnacle, surveying the Southern Ocean Now, scientists are trying beaches, plus its distinctive, elephant- like a sentinel. Occasionally, a brown like shape – lies within the South skua descends and threatens to steal to find out what’s ailing Shetlands, an archipelago just north of a youngster, its presence provoking the Antarctic Peninsula. The team from piercing, murderous cries. At least

this feathered trekker. Lowen/FLPA James Stony Brook University, New York, sailed once, it succeeds. By Olive Heffernan

A quick glance at their markings and it’s easy to see how chinstrap penguins got their name. 63

BBC Wildlife BBC CHINSTRAP PENGUINS CHINSTRAP Chinstraps are part of a group known You have to hold hold to have You on balanced poses, a slope on toe one guano.” with greased Getting warm There are several theories that could explain the decline of chinstraps, the most obvious being climate change. In fossil fuel terms, one of every eight carbon molecules emitted exhaust ends up in the Southern by a car’s Ocean, changing conditions for every living creature from plankton to blue whales. ocean Around the Antarctic Peninsula, temperatures have risen by 1°C since 1955, and the waters of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current – which flows west to east around the continent – are warming faster than the rest of the global ocean as a whole. On land, the situation is even more dramatic. on the Antarctic Peninsula Temperatures have soared by at least 3°C between 1950 and 2000, five times faster than anywhere else on Earth. as the brush-tails, which includes gentoos (easily identified by their carrot-orange bills), (the classic tuxedoed penguin and Adélies of the cartoon world). Brush-tails have some commonalities, including a love of cold water Antarctica. Further north, they run out of north, they Antarctica. Further krill; further south, it is too icy to build their chinstraps, thinks that stony nests. Heather have considered a species of Least Concern, the radar because of their remained off is assume that there abundance. “People safety in numbers – and there is, to a point,” there have been spectacular she says. “But collapses of species that we thought would like the passenger pigeon. never disappear, a pretty becomes I think the term ‘collapse’ reasonable description at this point – half of the population has disappeared in a very short period.” “ bit.ly/pew-trust

Protecting Protecting maritime Antarctica considering currently Nations are the waters protect to a proposal Antarctic the western around and live chinstraps where Peninsula, a for The proposal krill. for forage will be considered marine sanctuary the for (the Commission CCAMLR by Marine Antarctic of Conservation 2020. in December Living Resources) CCAMLR of goals the main of One nine of a network establish is to in the Southern marine sanctuaries of the thousands protect to Ocean, and there that live unique species – such as else nowhere found are and pastel worms bioluminescent well as the better-known as starfish and penguins. seals ● Departing Elephant Island, the team director of Lynch, to Heather According 52,786 breeding adults on the island, 56 per cent fewer than in the early 1970s. “This is the best window we have into the past 50 a years for these birds,” says Steve. “It’s tragic.” very dramatic decline and it’s Shetlands, weaves around the South counting chinstrap nests at, among others, Islands. Every Snow and King George Low, the scientists trek across beaches and day, the same pattern and everywhere up cliffs, emerges, with breeding populations at about half their historic numbers. “There is no safe haven,” says Steve. the penguin lab at Stony Brook University, the problem for these charismatic birds is that they exist in a sweet spot in offshore During a count, each scientist is allotted It takes two weeks to survey and get a first snow and the racket of the thousands of birds around you and become part of the scenery. moment, only one thing matters any given At – nest or not?” an area, which is then divided into smaller within each sub-section sections. Nests are counted three times using mechanical counters, with the figures only deemed valid if the variance is less than 5 per cent. good pace of counting is 1,000 nests an “A really when you’re “That’s says Noah. hour,” ticking along.” estimate for the whole of Elephant Island, and the emerging numbers confirm the suspicions: the chinstrap colonies scientists’ here have also crashed. There are now just September 2020 September

Skua: Graeme Snow/Alamy; Half Moon island & iceberg: Abbie Trayler-Smith/Greenpeace; elephant seal: Otto Plantema/Minden/FLPA; nesting: Peter Barritt/Alamy September 2020 September southern elephant southern is an unwelcome seal among nesting visitor a creating chinstraps; – the stones from nest needs to arrangement so. be just Counting penguin nests sounds serene, Counting Clockwise from from Clockwise the dramatic above: Half of landscape Moon Island in the Shetlands; South penguins fish gentoo a an iceberg; from just 70cm in height. But what chinstraps just 70cm in height. But lack in size, they make up for in aggression. “They are fierce birds,” says Steve. “They’ll fight over anything… a pebble, a space or access to a penguin highway.” almost meditative, but comes with incredible work usually sees the challenges. A day’s scientists negotiating a tricky landing by on an exposed, windswept often Zodiac, penchant shore, then – owing to the birds’ for high and remote nest sites – scaling sheer their distance, all the while keeping cliffs, complicate so as not to stress the birds. To the penguins tend to cluster matters further, obscuring their stony abodes. together, “It is the most focused, exhausting and exhilarating thing you can do outdoors,” says have to hold statuesque poses, Steve. “You balanced on one toe on a slope greased with have to ignore the wind, the guano. You Skuas trySkuas to young take penguins and succeed. often than their parents, who average arrive and only slightly smaller real estate,” says Steve. “They’ve essentially real estate,” says Steve. “They’ve which they return bought a house together, year – so, in all likelihood, to year after end up with the same mate.” After they’ll several weeks, the chicks are large enough to enter a crèche, huddling with other youngsters while the parents hunt for food. Tracking and tallying Tracking survey the breeding population, the To scientists count the nests, not the birds themselves. The task is easier when family so timing is key. groups are still together, The chicks are just a few weeks old when we BBC Wildlife BBC When it comes to breeding, We watch them waddle, hop and jump watch them waddle, hop and We Chinstraps, unlike the ice-loving 62 chinstraps have a classic co-parenting the male builds a arrangement. Typically, fresh circular nest from pebbles, and, once the eggs have hatched, the parents take it in turns to hunt and mind the chicks. They return to the same nest site each year to breed, which makes them monogamous more a case of shared by default. “It’s in twos and threes from their rookeries at the summit of tall, exposed cliff-faces, to the frigid down ‘penguin highways’ where they feast on krill to waters below, later regurgitate to their raucous chicks. “Chinstraps are tough – they can handle a real pummelling,” says team a leader Steve Forrest, veteran biologist with more than 25 Antarctic seasons under his belt. emperors and Adélies, are built for a life emperors and Adélies, at sea, spending nine months of the year fishing in the open ocean. They are agile swimmers, able to dive to 100m and when But venture up to 30km offshore. the breeding season rolls in, they transform into sturdy monochrome mountaineers. CHINSTRAP PENGUINS CHINSTRAP PENGUINS

and a habit of building nests from stones. territories. But there is evidence of another declines in chinstrap populations around But warming temperatures are sending invader – humans. Up to 20 nations fish the Livingston and King George Islands. “Fishing these species down very different paths. Southern Ocean. The most efficient vessels is tightly concentrated in areas where Chinstraps and Adélies are stalwart krill can now harvest up to almost 1,000 tonnes predators forage,” he says. “So, the amount feeders. These tiny shrimps thrive where of krill in a day. of catch being taken is actually not a small there is plentiful sea-ice, feasting on the Scientists are divided on how much of amount of what’s available – it’s enormous.” thick layers of nutritious algae that blanket a problem this poses for chinstraps. “The Phil agrees that if fishers harvest intensely its undersides. As the sea-ice surrounding amount of krill that is allowed to be harvested offshore of a particular penguin colony, those the Antarctic Peninsula has receded is small in relation to consumption by birds could be affected. southwards, so too have the krill, emptying penguins and whales,” says Phil Trathan, Some scientists feel that fishers should not the larder for the penguins that specialise an ecologist at the British Antarctic Survey. be allowed to compete directly with wildlife on them. For gentoos, who’ve increased “So, the fishery will not affect the krill stock struggling to cope with a changing climate. in number and range, a broader diet gives at the current level of harvesting.” “Regardless of whether fishing is the cause, a them a more competitive edge. But most krill fishing is concentrated 50 per cent reduction in chinstraps certainly around the maritime islands of Antarctica, suggests that a big change in management is Food fight where mammals and birds, including needed,” says Steve Forrest. But there may be other factors at play, also chinstrap penguins, live. And that could be Whatever the cause of the chinstrap’s relating to chinstraps’ restricted diet. One a problem, says Jefferson Hinke, a penguin decline, the demise of these creatures signals theory is that, in recent years, there’s been biologist with the US National Oceanic and that something is severely amiss. “There an increase in competition for krill, and Atmospheric Administration in La Jolla, used to be a lot more chinstraps, and that that chinstraps are being squeezed out of California, whose own work has shown steep means that the ocean is now functioning in a the buffet by their rivals. The humpback different way,” says Heather Lynch. “We need whale could be one such competitor. These to understand this, because we depend on voracious krill consumers were nearly the ocean as much as the penguins do.” hunted to extinction, but their numbers have recovered and are now close to pre- OLIVE HEFFERNAN is a marine whaling levels. biologist and science writer. She There’s no hard evidence that humpbacks travelled to Antarctica on research

Main image: Yva Momatiuk & John Eastcott/Minden/NPL; chicks: Abbie Trayler-Smith/Greenpeace; leopard seal: Christian Åslund/Greenpeace; Åslund/Greenpeace; Christian seal: leopard Trayler-Smith/Greenpeace; Abbie chicks: John Eastcott/Minden/NPL; Momatiuk & Yva Main image: whale: Getty Michael Grant/Alamy; fur seal: Merron/Getty; David emperor: king: Ben Cranke/Getty; Cropp/Getty; Adam swimming: are specifically invading traditional chinstrap vessels Esperanza and Arctic Sunrise, provided by Greenpeace.

FIND OUT MORE Facts about penguins: discoverwildlife.com/penguin-facts Clockwise: chinstraps stop them getting can swim at speeds airborne above the up to 30kph; these waves; a leopard seal birds typically have preys on a penguin – WARMING ANTARCTICA THE WINNERS & LOSERS two chicks per brood; shaking it to separate Antarctica is experiencing climate change faster than anywhere else on Earth, with profound impacts. they might not be able the flesh from the skin to fly but that doesn’t – off Elephant Island. WINNERS LOSERS

King penguin Emperor penguin Kings are adept swimmers, The largest of penguins, emperors routinely diving over 100m in need ice for protection against search of fish and squid. Preferring predators, but too much ice is to forage in open waters, they equally perilous, leaving them further are expected to benefit from away from their feeding grounds. Antarctica’s retreating sea-ice. If climate change continues at its Already, these elegant birds are current pace, more than 80 per cent moving south, turning up in places of emperor colonies will have too few such as Elephant Island. adults to successfully breed by 2100.

Southern right whale Antarctic fur seal These large baleen whales feed Committed krill eaters, these fur seals on tiny copepod plankton. Once are expected to be particularly hard hunted to near extinction, their hit by the loss of sea-ice in Antarctic numbers are now on the rise and waters. A fur seal can eat more than Chinstraps are being could rebound further still, As the 900kg of krill a year. Their changing waters around Antarctica warm environment is, however, taking a squeezed out of the and the sea-ice melts, conditions toll – fur seals are already showing will ripen for plankton blooms, signs of food stress, including females buffet by their rivals. creating a veritable feast for these being born with a low birth weight and ocean giants. having their pups later in life.

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