Natural Habitat Problems

Adelie penguins walk to an ice mound. NOAA photo

   In March 2000, two giant icebergs were reported to have broken off the Antarctic ice sheet. These icebergs go miles below the ocean surface so penguins can't go under them. Also, they can go miles high so penguins can't easily go over them. As if icebergs could do anymore damage, penguins can't quickly go around them because they are miles wide too. Why do penguins need to go around, over or under? They need to access their food route and icebergs can block the way to their food supply. The penguins must walk an additional thirty miles more than usual to get to their food route and the baby chicks must wait longer for their meal. By the time they arrive at their chicks, there is less food available to regurgitate.

Another natural problem is the weather. In Antarctica, there are many blizzards. It is so cold and windy in the Antarctic during the winter that no other warm-blooded mammal stays there during that season. Here penguins breed in the winter. Being as cold as it is in Antarctica, only 90% of the newly laid eggs hatch. Those that do, must survive nine weeks of bitter weather while the mother goes on a feeding spree and the father keeps the baby warm under its' 96.8-degree brooding pouch.

There are still a few more problems with penguin environment. Yet penguins encounter another problem coming from their habitat. Many birds attack the penguins' eggs and chicks. Great Skuas and the Dolphin Gulls are two such predators. Dolphin Gulls have a way of harassing the adult penguins off of their eggs so the Dolphin Gull can steal and eat them. Great Skuas steal the penguins' fish and attack young penguins. In Argentina, Magellanic penguins may fall prey to foxes and armadillos and gulls. Leopard seals are a big problem because penguins are a favorite meal of theirs. Sharks and killer whales sometimes eat penguins, as well. Roughly 50% of baby chicks will be victim to leopard seals, starvation or the elements during its first two weeks at sea. Even with all these problems, the harsh cold environment is what the penguins have chosen.

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