Zavodovski Island Lost More Than Half a Million Chinstrap Penguins in 14 Years, and Researchers Link It to Shifting Krill
Nature World News | 09.10.2026 23:00
The remote volcanic island that held the world's largest penguin colony has lost more than half a million chinstrap penguins since 2011, according to a study published this week in Current Biology. Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey found that occupied chinstrap nests on Zavodovski Island, in the South Sandwich Islands, fell by 63% between 2011 and 2025, the highest rate of chinstrap decline recorded anywhere, according to a summary of the study.
