Viking Expedition Team Announces Discovery of New Penguin Colony in Antarctica
Viking today (March 5, 2024) announced its expedition team supported the discovery of a new colony of chinstrap penguins not previously known to science on Diaz Rock, near Astrolabe Island, in Antarctica.
The finding took place in January 2024 when Viking’s expedition vessel, the Viking Octantis®, visited Astrolabe Island, a three-mile-long island, located in the Bransfield Strait of the Trinity Peninsula in Antarctica.
Astrolabe Island is home to a colony of chinstrap penguins that had not been surveyed since 1987. During the visit, Viking’s scientific partner, Oceanites, the leading field research entity in Antarctic penguin monitoring, conducted a visual and thermal aerial survey.
The fieldwork documented the first survey in nearly 40 years of the known chinstrap penguin colony of Astrolabe Island and in the process, discovered the additional colony on Diaz Rock. Oceanites will share additional details from the survey in a scientific paper to follow in due course.
Full story Viking Expedition Team Announces Discovery of New Penguin Colony in Antarctica – Viking
