A team of conservationists has begun tracking emperor penguins on Snow Hill Island, located at the northern tip of Antarctica, in an effort to better understand and protect the endangered species. The project involves fitting eight emperor penguins with satellite tags and sensors designed to relay real-time data on their movements and surrounding environmental conditions.
The initiative, led by Pablo García Borboroglu of the Global Penguin Society, aims to shed light on how climate change is affecting emperor penguins, the tallest and heaviest of all penguin species. Rising temperatures have caused coastal sea ice, which emperors rely on for moulting, to break up earlier than usual. This exposes the birds, who lose their waterproof feathers during moulting, to increased risks such as drowning, hypothermia, and exhaustion. The species was classified as at risk of extinction for the first time this year.
In addition to emperor penguins, the project includes three other species: little blue penguins in New Zealand, Humboldt penguins in Chile, and Magellanic penguins in Argentina, all of which face various conservation challenges. However, the focus on emperors is acute due to their vulnerability to rapidly changing Antarctic conditions.
The penguins instrumented with trackers received names inspired by public figures, including Sir David Attenborough, actor Harrison Ford, and actress Julia Roberts. Despite their size, attaching tracking devices is relatively straightforward because emperor penguins exhibit curious and non-aggressive behavior. Conservationists avoid sedation, instead calming the birds with hoods placed over their heads to help reduce stress during the tagging process.
Researchers have encountered challenges with the penguins pecking at and attempting to remove the devices from each other. To mitigate this, they use a method where tags are attached to feathers with tape, which is then sealed using epoxy resin that hardens quickly in the freezing Antarctic environment.
The tags are equipped with multiple sensors to monitor ocean salinity, temperature, and penguin movement through accelerometers. This data is critical for understanding how warming waters and melting ice are impacting the species. Antarctic sea ice has reached record lows for four consecutive years from 2022 to 2025, intensifying the threat to the penguins’ habitat.
Borboroglu highlighted that while addressing climate change remains a complex global challenge, the project could provide immediate conservation benefits by identifying overlap areas where penguins and fishing vessels compete for krill, a key food source. Reducing fishing pressure on krill could help alleviate some of the stress on the penguin populations.
The Global Penguin Society announced the project in London at an event hosted by the Whitley Fund for Nature, a UK-based conservation charity, underscoring the urgency of international efforts to protect these iconic Antarctic birds.