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Science 14 December 2001:
Vol. 294. no. 5550, p. 2285
DOI: 10.1126/science.294.5550.2285b
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Random Samples

Figure 1

The austral spring usually finds Antarctica's Adélie penguins happily swimming ashore to mate. But this year all is not well. When biologist Lyn Irvine surveyed two island colonies near Australia's Mawson station on 25 November, she found at least 100 dead birds--and many more sick ones--at the approximately 15,000-strong colony.

The only other known mass death occurred in 1972, and researchers have "no idea" what is causing the current die-off, says Australian Antarctic Division biologist Knowles Kerry. But one possibility is disease, so Mawson researchers are taking precautions. They have restricted visits to the colonies and are sanitizing footwear before visits to block the spread of any pathogens.

Meanwhile, they have sent specimens of the dead birds to Hobart, Tasmania, for pathological analysis that might help solve the mystery.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)