Penguins have always held a certain appeal – from the beloved book Mr. Popper’s Penguins to the tap dancing in the movie Happy Feet. For those looking for a more scientific exploration of this quirky, flightless bird, the Ridgefield Playhouse will be presenting the show National Geographic Live: Penguins of Antarctica with Ecologist and National Geographic Explorer, Dr. Heather Lynch, on Sunday, November 3rd.
When asked why people find penguins so endearing, Dr. Lynch points to their oddly human characteristics. “I think their upright stance, which causes them to look like little people walking around, makes them easy to anthropomorphize. I also think we admire the penguin’s toughness and grit, surviving and even thriving in some of the coldest, most desolate places on the planet,” says Dr. Lynch.
While there are somewhere between 17 and 19 species of penguins (researchers often disagree depending on how one qualifies a species), Dr. Lynch studies the six that breed in Antarctica and the surrounding islands: the Gentoo, Adelie, Chinstrap, Emperor, Macaroni, and King. While she has been on countless expeditions, some truly stand out as special. “Once, on Thanksgiving Day in 2008, we landed at an Emperor penguin colony called Snow Hill Island, on a day that was boiling by Antarctic standards – over 60 degrees and sunny. Everyone was in t-shirts standing on the ice staring at these absolutely majestic Emperor penguins walking about. Their colonies are notoriously difficult to get to so to see so many at one time was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Dr. Lynch brings a unique perspective to her study of Antarctic penguins. “I first studied chemical engineering and eventually received a degree in physics. While pursuing a PhD in Physics, I found my passion for the environment. This extreme interdisciplinarity had a huge effect on my research career,” she says. Thanks to advances in technology, scientists like Dr. Lynch can use satellite imagery to view penguin poop, called guano, to track how many penguins are breeding each year across all of Antarctica. “This has changed how we study penguins and allows us to do a better job designing areas to protect the penguins from the threats they face,” says
Dr. Lynch.
Too Hot?
Climate change is a topic often discussed in the news – usually people complaining about summers being too hot or winters not being snowy enough. It’s important to remember that the effects of climate change reach beyond our backyards. “The Antarctic Peninsula, where most of Antarctica’s penguins live, is already the warmest part of Antarctica, and it’s been getting warmer and wetter under climate change. Emperor penguins are particularly threatened by these changes, since they nest right on the ice and are the most restricted in terms of their geographic range,” says Dr. Lynch. While Dr. Lynch is focused on the penguins, she stresses that a dramatic and coordinated effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is needed. “The steps we need to save Antarctica are also the ones we need to protect our own communities,” she says. “We’re all in the same boat in that respect.” •
