Viking Cruises

57 | Viking Explorer Society News New Discoveries IN ANTARCTICA A surprise detour to Diaz Rock in Antarctica led to the discovery of a previously unknown colony of chinstrap penguins. Sarah Knapton reports on the exciting find in an area untouched by researchers since the 1980s. "The Antarctic Peninsula is well-travelled and explored, and it is not often we find a new penguin colony," said Dr. Grant Humphries, Director of Science at Oceanites, one of Viking's many scientific partners and the leading field research organisation in Antarctic penguin monitoring, who conducted a visual and thermal aerial survey when the ship arrived at Diaz Rock."This work will allow us to get a better understanding of how Antarctic penguin population dynamics are shifting in an ever-changing world." Under the new itinerary, the Viking Octantis headed for Astrolabe Island, a three-mile-wide volcanic mass lying in the Bransfield Strait, with a colony of chinstrap penguins that had not been surveyed since 1987. Previous counts had found more than 3,000 nesting chinstrap penguins on Astrolabe, but on arrival, it soon became clear that there were thousands more, with hundreds of fluffy chicks already camped out on vertiginous cliff faces. The colony was full to bursting and appeared to be thriving. But it was not Astrolabe that caused excitement among the penguin counters, it was the nearby Diaz Rock. Diaz Rock lies close to Astrolabe and the fearsome volcanic extrusion of steep peaks known as the Dragon's Teeth. Boats sailing between the stone fangs are said to have "flossed" the island. When the researchers at Oceanites turned "is work will allow us to get a better understanding of how Antarctic penguin population dynamics are shifting in an ever-changing world." their binoculars onto the rock they noticed the tell-tale pinkish glow of penguin guano, and after sending drones up, recorded 40 to 50 new nests, suggesting the burgeoning community of Astrolabe had grown so big, it Penguin colony, Antarctica

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