Here's a story below that came out today that shows things are warming up...

-Steve Gregory-

Antarctic Icebergs Threaten Penguin Chicks

By Graeme Peters
Reuters

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Jan. 11) - Tens of thousands of baby penguins face
starvation after two giant icebergs broke off the Antarctic ice sheet and
blocked their parents' access to feeding areas, a New Zealand government
agency said on Friday.

Adelie and emperor penguins nesting on the Ross Island rookeries are now
forced to walk long distances over the icebergs to obtain food for their
chicks, born during the November-December breeding season.

''The penguins are having to walk 31 miles further than usual to reach the
sea,'' said Dean Peterson of Antarctica New Zealand. The flightless birds
travel on land at about a mile per hour.

The problem could halve the chick survival rate at the three Adelie penguin
colonies on Ross Island -- estimated at 130,000 breeding pairs, said
Peterson. In all Antarctica, there is an estimated three million Adelie
penguin breeding pairs.

Around 12,000 breeding pairs of emperor penguins, the largest penguin species
at up to four foot tall, are also affected.

The icebergs broke from the vast Ross Ice shelf, south of New Zealand, in
March 2000 and are now sandwiched between Ross Island and Franklin Island, 93
miles to the north.

Peterson, a U.S. scientist working for the NZ agency, estimated that penguins
were taking days to make the round trip to the sea to fish, and then back to
their nests to regurgitate food for their chicks.

''At that point they are quite exhausted and probably don't have much to
regurgitate,'' he told Reuters.

Penguins already have long odds on reaching adulthood, with only 10 percent
surviving beyond adolescence.

''We are probably looking at halving that again -- we are sitting down at
maybe the five percent rate,'' Peterson said, adding some penguins already
appeared to be abandoning the Ross Island rookeries to breed elsewhere.

Penguins come ashore to breed and then take it in turns to leave the nest to
fetch crustaceans, fish and squid to feed their young.

Researchers say large chunks of the Antarctic ice sheet are breaking off for
several reasons, including global warming.

Emperor and Adelie penguins are restricted to Antarctica. The emperors weigh
up to 66 pounds while Adelie penguins are much smaller, weighing around 11
pounds.

00:09 01-11-02