Not gonna lie folks, this is a sad one. Link (The Hill) EDIT: Adding better link (Cambridge University Press)
The adults moved. After their newborn kids drowned. Three years in a row. So no it isn't as if the whole population vanished, but that's still a tough knock.
I don't think it's crass. I also wondered what would likely benefit from the extra protein, because you know something found it and grew stronger from eating it.
Got me thinking about leopard seals. They usually have a short lifespan because they wear their teeth down during the winter keeping air holes open in the ice. Less ice could mean longer life has they have effective teeth for longer.
Climate change will produce some winners (just the luck of the draw) but many losers. Less diversity overall.
Another link like first one: 'Catastrophic' breeding failure at one of world's largest emperor penguin colonies -- ScienceDaily Who eats penguins? What Eats Penguins? - Penguin Facts and Information To a good first approximation, nothing grows in Antarctica. So penguins are unique in dragging part of the marine food web onshore.
It seems to happen often that an item is coincidentally followed by (serious) publication soon after. Like this: ScienceDirect adding a media summary: Antarctic biodiversity hotspots exist wherever penguins and seals poop -- ScienceDaily
