World’s largest penguin colony suffers ‘enormous population crash’

Chinstrap penguins are struggling to adapt to climate disruption as they have special diets and specific ocean temperature preferences. Photograph: John Dickens/British Antarctic Survey

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.