Penguins Prefer a Warmer Antarctic

Penguins are iconic species. Not only were they in danger from global warming in the movie "Happy Feet," but most penguin species are currently under consideration for listing as threatened or endangered, largely due to perceived threats of climate change. The argument is that warming will alter their habitat in an adverse fashion, affecting their food supply and so on. The truth, however, may be exactly the opposite.

Huang et al. (2009) evaluated paleo-evidence for penguin populations at Gardner Island in East Antarctica. A sediment core in a lake bed was dated and analyzed for the period dating back to 8500 BP. The five researchers found that a particular suite of elements was a reliable indicator of penguin guano; and it indicated that penguins colonized the site shortly after it became ice-free 8500 years ago. A pronounced population peak is also evident in the data from about 4700 to 2400 BP, which corresponds closely to a substantially warmer period at this site. While this is interesting in and of itself, the authors document four other studies (all of the studies conducted to date) showing a penguin optimum roughly 3000 to 4000 years ago and coinciding with notably warm conditions. Together, these five studies encompass East Antarctica, the Ross Sea region, and the West Antarctic Peninsula, while studies of elephant seals (Hall, 2006) show that they too were found closer to the south pole during past warmer periods.

The importance of this study is that all data currently available point to penguins having been most abundant during the warmest period of the Holocene several thousand years ago. Thus, it would seem reasonable to presume that penguins would likely respond positively to any future warming that may occur, not negatively, as climate alarmists tend to contend.

Additional Reference
Hall, B.L., Hoelzel, A.R., Baroni, C., Denton, G.H., Le Boeuf, B.J., Overturf, B., Topf, A.L. 2006. Holocene elephant seal distribution implies warmer-than-present climate in the Ross Sea. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 103: 10213-10217.