They found 27% of adult penguin corpses along paths heading out of the breeding colony to the ocean, where they could get a drink - penguins have glands that can filter salt out of the water. Nearly three-quarters of the penguins that died - 264 - were adults, many of which likely died of dehydration, based on postmortem analyses conducted by the UW researchers. 19 affected adults and chicks differently.
In a past season, researchers had previously recorded a shade high of 43 C or 109.4 F, but that older record was not associated with a mass die-off of penguins, according to Holt.
Temperatures at the site during the breeding season typically rise from the 50s F to the low 100s F. 19 heatwave was the highest temperature the researchers have ever recorded at Punta Tombo, where UW teams have been studying Magellanic penguins since 1982 under co-author P. Both corpses were found in a “heat-relief” posture, with their feet extended behind the body, flippers out and bills open, which suggests that they died while panting. “It’s the first time we’ve recorded a mass mortality event at Punta Tombo connected to extreme temperatures.”Ĭlose-up views of two adult Magellanic Penguins that died in the Jan. “This extreme event fell near the tail end of the breeding season for Magellanic penguins, so it killed a large number of adults, as well as chicks,” said lead author Katie Holt, a UW doctoral student in biology. 4 in the journal Ornithological Applications, the extreme heatwave killed at least 354 penguins, based on a search for bodies by UW researchers in the days following the record high temperature. As the team reports in a paper published Jan. 19, temperatures at the site in Punta Tombo, on Argentina’s southern coast, spiked to 44 C, or 111.2 F, and that was in the shade. In 2019, University of Washington researchers witnessed this in Argentina at one of the world’s largest breeding colonies for Magellanic penguins. On June 28, Seattle reached 108 F - an all-time high - while the village of Lytton in British Columbia recorded Canada’s highest-ever temperature of 121.3 F on June 29, the day before it was destroyed by a heat-triggered wildfire.Ĭlimate change is expected to bring more such extreme heat events globally, with far-reaching consequences not just for humans, but for wildlife and ecosystems. In June 2021, an unprecedented heatwave hit the Pacific Northwest and Canada, killing an estimated 1,400 people.
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