The Evolutionary History Of Penguins Is Far From Black And White

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Barbijo penguins gather on South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, in 2019. But that’s probably not where their ancestors lived.

Johan Ordonez/AFP via Getty Images

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Johan Ordonez/AFP via Getty Images

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King penguins from the King penguin colony in Tierra del Fuego, Chile.

Aurora Fernández Durán /PNAS

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Aurora Fernández Durán /PNAS

The Two-Way
Scientists Predict King Penguins Face Major Threats Due To Climate Change

Ballard, who wasn’t involved in the work, says the scientists did a nice job piecing together geology, oceanography and biology to explain the evolution and radiation of penguins.

«I think they have a good story there, and it explains patterns that we are seeing today,» he says.

Yet both he and UC Berkeley’s Bowie emphasize that climate change could be outpacing penguins’ ability to adapt.

«This adaptation to being able to [live] in freezing cold waters or tropical waters occurred over a period of 20 million years,» Bowie says.

Now, warming waters are shifting the distribution of species penguins rely upon for food, he explains, and in some cases, that’s resulted in a mass die-off of sub-Antarctic penguins.

«It’s taken millions of years for penguins to be able to occupy these different habitats,» Bowie says. «The oceans are warming at such a rate that we don’t think they’re going to be able to keep up with this warming phase.»

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