the world’s largest colony of king penguins reduced by almost 90%

restricted largest colony in the world of real penguins by almost 90% since 1980 in mysterious ways, researchers say. current satellite and aerial images of the remote French island of Ile aux Cochons unveiled the king people there, but it all went, Agence France-Presse reported. Only 200,000 birds stay in the colony, the experts estimate that published in a new study in the journal Antarctic Science. Because the largest colony King has decreased, remains unclear. Scientists have hypothesized that environmental factors, disease and climate change have contributed to the collapse. “It ‘totally unexpected and particularly important since this colony nearly a third of king penguins represented in the world”, the lead author Henri Weimerskirch, an ecologist at the Center for Biological Studies in Chize, France said. If Weimerskirch foot located on the uninhabited island and offers between Africa and Antarctica more than three decades, it has been preserved in a sea of ​​about 2 million birds, according to AFP. Weimerskirch said that the entire archipelago of Ile aux Cochons is no longer possible for king penguins by mid-century if climate change models will continue at the current trajectory. Previous studies have shown taking greenhouse gases by increasing the second largest of the penguin an especially hard toll complete world. A study published last February and was based on climate change models predicted that 70% of king penguin is due to the transfer would or would disappear by the end of the century. Island homes are not sustainable if the food is far from and the environment is not ideal for the breeding of chicks, according to the study. Weimerskirch also suggested that cholera or overfilling have played a role in the decrease in the number of penguins on the Ile aux Cochons. He said scientists hope, more conclusive, to find out what triggered the decline, if they carry out research on the island, probably in 2019
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