This week on Twitter our attention was brought to the plight of a colony of
penguins on Zavodovski Island, after two volcanoes on the island have erupted, causing ash to cover them. The island currently homes the largest colony of chinstrap penguins in the world.
According to The Telegraph
Conservationists are concerned because the chinstrap penguins are moulting, shedding their old feathers for new, which means they cannot leave the island to find safety.
However, when we googled “how to help the penguins on Zavodovski Island”, the internet seemed void of ideas. EurekAlert stated that
Geographer Dr Peter Fretwell from BAS who was involved in the remapping of the archipelago says:
“We don’t know what impact the ash will have on the penguins. If it has been heavy and widespread it may have a serious effect on the population. It’s impossible to say but two scientific expeditions are scheduled to visit the region from later this year and will try to assess the impact of the eruption.”
Well, here at Newsnibbles we don’t have any fancy qualifications in science, but would like to hazard a guess that unless something is done, there will be less penguins when you do your expedition. This is based on the theory that the ash will kill a significant number, a theory we have just plucked out of the air, and are happy to be proved wrong on.
One tweeter seemed very keen to help the penguins, but lacking ideas:
Let’s save the Pengy! https://t.co/IcYlKcZYdO @BAS_News #gishwhesLovesSmellyPenguins and #djtriplebypass #monkeybrigade
— Hijak Hawaii, MD (@DjTripleBypass) August 1, 2016
If you know of someone with a plan for saving penguins we would love to hear it, and publicise it. This natural disaster cannot be the end. Especially as most breeds of penguins mate for life, and the widowed penguins would just be too sad for words.
On a brighter note, and purely coincidentally, Feathers and Toast’s daily mime is a penguin, and we think it’s rather good.
