第2975期:Brown spots reveal Antarctic penguin problem

In order to survive the cold, emperor penguins must remain on platforms of sea ice for long enough every year to replace weather-beaten feathers with new waterproof coats. Little was known about what is called catastrophic moulting until researchers at the British Antarctic Survey looked at satellite pictures of the frozen continent and spotted brown smudges. They realised they were mounds of feathers. But global warming is now rapidly changing Antarctica. 为了在严寒中生存，帝企鹅每年必须在海冰平台上停留足够长的时间，以将历经风雨的羽毛换成一套全新的防水 “大衣”。此前，人们对帝企鹅这种被称为 “灾难性换羽” 的过程知之甚少，直到英国南极调查局的研究人员看了这片冰封大陆的卫星照片时，发现了一些棕色的斑块。他们意识到这些斑点其实是堆积如山的羽毛。不过，全球变暖正在迅速改变着南极洲。Satellite images show that after summer sea ice shrank dramatically in 2022 and 23, there were fewer smudges, suggesting many penguins had died in West Antarctica. There is hope that some move to safer ice, but it is another sign of how climate change is endangering some of the world's most vulnerable animals.卫星图像显示，自夏季海冰于 2022 年和 2023 年大规模缩小之后，棕色斑块的数量有所减少，这表明西南极洲的许多企鹅可能已经死亡。虽然人们仍希望部分企鹅能迁移到更安全的冰面上，但这一迹象再次表明，气候变化正危及世界上一些最脆弱的动物的生存。