The popularity, plight and poop of penguins - Dyan deNapoli

Penguins have long captured

the imagination and the hearts

of people the world over.

But while popular culture

depicts them as clumsy, adorable birds

with endlessly abundant populations,

the truth is that penguins are exceedingly graceful,

often ornery,

and their populations are in rapid free fall.

Their real life situation is far more precarious

than people think.

And if current trends do not change,

it may not be long

before penguins can only be found in movies.

There are many things about penguins

that make them odd birds, so to speak.

For one thing,

they are one of the few bird species that cannot fly,

having evolved from flight-capable birds

about 60 million years ago.

Surprisingly, their closest living relative

is the albatross,

a bird known for its enormous wingspan

and extraordinary soaring abilities.

It may seem strange

that losing the ability to fly

would be an evolutionary advantage,

but the penguin's short, flipper-like wings

and solid bones

allow them to swim faster and dive deeper

than any other bird on Earth,

filling an ecological niche that no other bird can.

Penguins inhabit the southern hemisphere,

being one of the few bird species

able to breed in the coldest environments.

But contrary to popular belief,

they are not restricted to cold regions

nor are there any at the North Pole.

In fact, only 4 of the 18 penguin species

regularly live and breed in Antarctica.

Most penguins live in subtemperate

to temperate regions.

And the Galapagos penguin even lives and breeds

right near the equator

off the coast of South America.

They are also found in South Africa,

Namibia,

Australia,

and New Zealand,

as well as on a number of islands

in the southern Atlantic,

Pacific,

Indian,

and Antarctic Oceans.

Although penguins spend 75% of their lives at sea,

they must come to shore every year

to reproduce and to molt their feathers.

They do this in a variety of places,

from the temporary ice sheets of the Antarctic

to the beaches of South Africa and Namibia,

to the rocky shores of subantarctic islands,

to the craggy lava surfaces in the Galapagos.

Different penguin species

have different nesting practices.

Some dig burrows into dirt, sand, or dried guano;

some nest in tussock grasses;

some build nests out of small rocks, sticks, and bones;

while others don't build any nests at all.

Although most penguins lay a clutch of two eggs,

the two largest species,

the King and the Emperor,

lay a single egg

that they incubate on top of their feet

for approximately two months.

Unfortunately, 15 of the 18 penguin species

are currently listed as threatened,

near-threatened,

or endangered

by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

In the last several decades,

we have seen the world populations

of most penguin species decline

by up to 90%,

with two of them,

the Yellow-eyed and Galapagos penguins,

down to just a few thousand birds.

Penguins are an indicator species,

the proverbial "canary in the coal mine."

Simply put, if penguins are dying,

it means our oceans are dying.

And sadly, most of this decline is attributable

to human activities.

Historically, penguins have had to deal

with multiple disturbances.

The mass collection of penguin eggs

and the harvesting

of the seabird guano they nested in

caused the dramatic decline

of several penguin species.

If you're wondering

what humans would want with seabird poop,

it was used as an ingredient

in fertilizer and in gunpowder,

being so valuable

that in the 19th century,

it was known as white gold.

Current threats to penguins include the destruction

of both marine and terrestrial habitats,

introduced predators,

entrapment in fishing nets,

and pollution from plastics and chemicals.

There have also been several large-scale oil spills

over the past 50 years

that have killed or impacted

tens of thousands of penguins around the world.

But the two major threats to penguins today

are global warming

and overfishing.

Global warming impacts penguins in multiple ways,

from interrupting the production of krill

due to decreased sea ice formation in the Antarctic,

to increasing the frequency

and severity of storms

that destroy nests,

to shifting the cold water currents

carrying the penguins' prey too far away

from penguin breeding and foraging grounds.

Even though humans

may be the greatest threat to penguins,

we are also their greatest hope.

Many research and conservation projects

are underway to protect penguin habitats

and restore vulnerable populations.

With a little help from us

and some changes in the practices

that impact our planet and oceans,

there is hope that our tuxedo-clad friends

will still be around in the next century.