Penguins Disappearing From Southern Hemisphere

The Scotsman is running a piece looking at the mysterious disappearance of penguins from all around the world. A biologist who studies the rockhopper penguin characterizes the population crash as 'sinister', as scientists are still baffled as to why almost 30% of the birds have vanished. From the article: "Grant Munro, the director of Falklands Conservation, said there were fears that rockhoppers might become extinct. 'If the present situation were to carry on then it's not a particularly great forecast. It doesn't look like they are suddenly going to start increasing in numbers ... In the Falklands, they are part of everyday life. If you head down to the beach you are going to see penguins.'"

Comments

Microsoft is behind of this

[dvice_null]

> Penguins Disappearing From Southern Hemisphere

Microsoft must be behind of all of this. Who else would like to see cute little penguins to disappear from the world.

And Tango Makes Three

[cfeedback]

Obviously too many penguins have been reading this book...

Re:This is only news because they're cute.

[eric.t.f.bat]

Yeah - cos then they'd be the Microsoft mascot instead.

Sorry, but this is going to make me rich.

[Lord Kano]

My new company KFP is going to put KFC out of business. I was just hoping that no one would notice the population drop until I was ready to go international.

Fuck a chicken wing, penguin wings is the future.

LK

The real reason....

[GoulDuck]

Just like the T-Rex, the reason they disappear is because they can't break their fall. No arms, no way to save them self. Well, the T-Rex had arms, but they where to short to do any difference.

Food Chain

[Detritus]

What about the food chain? Is commercial fishing by humans affecting the penguin's food supply? Overfishing can have unanticipated effects on other species.

Close but no cigar

[OriginalArlen]

I heard this chap interviewed on the Today programme yesterday morning. He put great emphasis on pointing out that it's only the Rockhoppers that have declined: the Gentoo and Emperor penguin species seem to be unaffected by whatever's causing this. Readers in the UK running Windows legacy systems can watch the related TV story here. Hmmm, and there's a story here from 2002.

Here's the culprits...

[advocate_one]

the bl00dy great fishing fleets hoovering up the fish... and there's a whole sorry saga here... corrupt officials effectively condoning it.

Re:This is only news because they're cute.

[venicebeach]

If Penguins were featherless, covered in oozing mucous, constantly moaned in pain and had soulless empty sockets where their eyes should be we wouldn't care if they disappeared from the earth or not.

Thus the selective advantage of "cuteness". It the same mechanism used by our young to ensure we want to take care of them.

Re:The RAF has a base in the falklands...

[Zocalo]

That's highly unlikely as the RAF operates very strict flight regulations concerning the areas around the Falklands that are used by nesting penguins. Especially so during the breeding season when the noise of an overflying jet may startle a potential parent into letting the egg balanced on its feet to keep it warm come into contact with the frozen ground, almost certainly killing the chick within. More than one RAF pilot has had their flying status revoked and found themselves on the next transport plane home after being caught too close to the penguin colonies.

For those of you old enough to remember the TV advert, the RAF most certainly does not "P-P-P-Pickle a Penguin".

Re:Murder, not global warming

[Snarfangel]

It was murder most fowl.