The population of chinstrap penguins on Zavodovski Island has declined by two-thirds since 2011 due to climate change.

World’s largest penguin colony suffers ‘enormous population crash’ Chinstrap penguins on Zavodovski Island in Antarctica down by two-thirds since 2011, probably due to climate crisis https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/07/penguin-colony-population-crash-zavodovski-island-antarctica

The British Antarctic Survey reports that Zavodovski Island in #Antarctica has lost more than 500,000 chinstrap penguins since 2011, ending its status as the world's largest penguin colony as warming waters reduce access to Antarctic krill. https://en-wp.org/wiki/Climate_change_in_Antarctica https://newsasfacts.com/news/162367

World’s largest penguin colony suffers ‘enormous population crash’. Chinstrap penguins on Zavodovski Island in Antarctica down by two-thirds since 2011, probably due to climate crisis. #ClimateChange #GlobalWarming https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/07/penguin-colony-population-crash-zavodovski-island-antarctica

Chinstrap penguins on Zavodovski Island in Antarctica down by two-thirds since 2011, probably due to climate crisis The world’s largest penguin colony has declined by two-thirds since 2011, most likely because of the climate crisis, a study has revealed. Scientists said the rapid demise of chinstrap penguins on Zavodovski, the northernmost of the South Sandwich Islands in Antarctica, increased the risk of a wider ecosystem collapse. “It is an enormous population crash, equivalent to half a million breeding individuals being lost from that island,” said the leader of the research, Prof Norman Ratcliffe, a penguin ecologist at the British Antarctic Survey. The Guardian revealed in 2020 that chinstrap penguin populations were decreasing on Low in the South Shetland Islands, prompting concerns among scientists that “something is broken” in the world’s wildest ecosystem. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/07/penguin-colony-population-crash-zavodovski-island-antarctica #ClimateChange