Penguin disaster as just two chicks survive from colony of 40,000

‘Catastrophic breeding event’ leads to demands for a marine protected area to be set up in East Antarctica

A colony of about 40,000 Adélie penguins in Antarctica has suffered a “catastrophic breeding event” – all but two chicks have died of starvation this year. It is the second time in just four years that such devastation – not previously seen in more than 50 years of observation – has been wrought on the population.

The finding has prompted urgent calls for the establishment of a marine protected area in East Antarctica, at next week’s meeting of 24 nations and the European Union at the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) in Hobart.

Related: Penguins starving to death is a sign that something’s very wrong in the Antarctic | John Sauven

Related: Freedom for Miss Simpson, the penguin found 2,000km from home