A push to protect endangered penguins is gaining a bit more publicity thanks to the British icebreaker HMS Protector, which is carrying out research in the Antarctic region. Protector’s arrival comes as conservationists and scientists press for a new treaty to protect the seagoing birds.
The Royal Navy announced that experts from Britain and the U.S. are working aboard the icebreaker to study colonies of penguins in the South Sandwich Islands, which lie more than 1,300 miles east of the Falklands and are home to around three million of the flightless birds. By landing on the uninhabited South Sandwich islands, recording the penguins and using drones, scientists onboard HMS Protector hope for a better understanding of the impact of climate change and other environmental factors on the colonies.
Meanwhile, researchers are calling for the United Nations to implement a treaty that would help to protect penguins, which are known to make spectacular, large-scale migrations at sea, crossing national boundaries.