Ancient Adelie Penguin Colony

What bones and feathers from an ancient Adelie colony tell us about how penguins adapt to change

April 4, 2019

National Science Foundation
Office of Polar Programs
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22230

Antarctica's Adelie penguins will soon star in a big-screen film about their life cycle. Disneynature produced the documentary, with logistical support from the Office of Polar Programs.

But research into how Adelie populations have responded to environmental and other changes in the past (and may again in the future) is more of a detective story.

In this four-minute video, researcher Michael Polito, of LSU, talks about how radiocarbon-dating and other techniques allowed him and his colleagues to pinpoint that Adelie penguins settled in the remote Danger Islands at least 3,000 years ago, when sea-ice conditions were changing.

As the Antarctic Peninsula, south of Argentina, is one the fastest warming spots on the globe, the research may be timely.

"...this is really the first time we've had a holistic understanding of the number of Adélie penguins in the Antarctic Peninsula which will improve our understanding of how they're responding to recent climate change," Polito says.