Climate change wipes out two-thirds of chinstrap penguins at what was the world's largest colony

From the Newshound archive · first published 8 October 2026.

Zavodovski Island, a volcanic outcrop in the South Sandwich Islands, has lost more than 680,000 chinstrap penguins since 2011 — a 63% collapse that has cost it its standing as the world's largest penguin colony. British Antarctic Survey researchers endured a fortnight of violent Southern Ocean storms to reach the remote island and record the devastation. Professor Norman Ratcliffe, who led the study published in Current Biology, called the scale "an enormous population crash" driven by warming seas pushing krill into waters the penguins cannot reach.

Scientists are now calling for chinstraps to be reclassified as 'endangered' — a sharp downgrade from their current 'least concern' status.

Macaroni penguins on the same island have THRIVED, growing 28% since 2011 — their more varied diet making them resilient to the same food-chain disruption.

The title of world's largest penguin colony has passed to Cape Adare in Antarctica's Ross Sea, home to more than one million Adélie penguins.