国王企鹅急速消失，科学家不知原因

研究者发现，世界上最大的国王企鹅群自从20世纪80年代开始已经萎缩了近90%，而科学家尚不知道原因。

《南极科学》期刊概述的这一发现，是通过分别将2015年和2017年的系列卫星照片与80年代的照片比较后得出的。配对繁殖的企鹅数量自80年代至今下降了88%。

从最近的照片上，可以找出大约6万对企鹅，而在80年代有大约50万对。

数量萎缩的国王企鹅群，聚居在法属科雄岛，或称猪岛，属于亚南极的克罗泽群岛。在这个无人居住的岛上，还聚居着大群的印度洋流浪信天翁，以及大量的各种类海豹——南象海豹、南极毛皮海狮和安岛海狗。岛上还有为数不少的濒危物种北跳岩企鹅。

国王企鹅在体型上仅次于皇帝企鹅，它们在气候较为温和的南极海岸北部的岛上繁殖。

目前还不清楚，是什么导致了这群企鹅数量的下降，从全球范围来看，国王企鹅如同其他鸟类种群一样，受到了气候变化的威胁。令人担忧的是，随着气候继续变暖，这些鸟类将不得不迁徙，离开它们的觅食地。为它们的后代觅食将因此变得越发困难。

国王企鹅大多在南纬45度到55度之间的亚南极岛屿上繁殖。（财富中文网）

译者：宣峰

The world’s largest king penguin colony has shrunk nearly 90% since the 1980s, researchers say, and scientists don’t quite know why.

The findings, outlined in an article in the journal Antarctic Science, were achieved by comparing serial and satellite images in 2015 and 2017, with those from the 1980s, respectively. Breeding pair numbers fell 88% between the 1980s and today.

Some 60,000 penguin pairs can be spotted in the recent images, down from half a million pairs recorded in the 1980s.

The colony in question lies on France’s Île aux Cochons, or Pig Island, in the subantarctic Crozet Archipelago. The uninhabited island also hosts the largest colony of wandering albatrosses in the Indian Ocean, as well as large populations of various species of seal—southern elephant, Antarctic fur and subantarctic fur seals. There are also substantial numbers of northern rockhopper penguins, an endangered species.

Second only to the emperor penguin in size, the king penguin breeds on the more temperate islands north of the Antarctic coast.

Whilst it is not clear what generated this particular population decline, globally speaking the king penguin—like other bird populations—could be at risk from climate change. The worry is that as the climate warms further, the birds will be forced to relocate, taking them further from their foraging grounds. Fetching food for their chicks would thus become an impossible task.

King penguins largely breed on the sub-Antarctic islands between 45 and 55 degrees South.