{"id":3923872,"date":"2026-02-10T09:01:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T14:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/5000-year-old-penguin-mummies-found-in-antarctica\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T09:01:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T14:01:26","slug":"5000-year-old-penguin-mummies-found-in-antarctica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/5000-year-old-penguin-mummies-found-in-antarctica\/","title":{"rendered":"5,000-Year-Old Penguin \u2018Mummies\u2019 Found in Antarctica"},"content":{"rendered":"
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YouTube Video Here: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_7h7t_i4FBM?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1<\/a><\/p>\n

Penguin mummies dating back thousands of years have been discovered in Antarctica.<\/p>\n

An ornithologist from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, Steven Emslie,\u00a0has studied penguins<\/a>\u00a0in Antarctica for over 15 years. Over the years, he\u2019s discovered penguin remains from abandoned penguin colonies, tracing clues about climate changes.<\/p>\n

In recent years, Emslie says a warming trend has reached deeper into the continent than before. As the ice has melted, it has exposed a penguin colony dating back thousands of years.<\/p>\n

In September 2020, he reported the news that he found ancient naturally mummified penguins. Although they looked as though they might be recently deceased, the penguins date back from\u00a0800 to 5,000 years ago.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite so many years, the penguin\u2019s feathers remained intact. Flesh remained as if the birds had died recently. Also, stains from the bird\u2019s waste were still apparent on rocks as if no time had passed.<\/p>\n

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https:\/\/twitter.com\/wectnews\/status\/1309076611241857024?s=20<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Ancient penguin mummies<\/h2>\n

Emslie described<\/a>\u00a0what he found:<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis particular site is in the Ross Sea in east Antarctica, and it was a very cold dry place compared to other parts of Antarctica so the preservation is even better and there was mummification,\u201d Emslie said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I found at the site were a lot of bones and mummies on the surface. Some of the penguin remains looked pretty fresh, so it seems like there was a mixture of old and fresh remains, and that seems strange to me at this location, which hasn\u2019t had breeding penguins reported there in the history of people going to Antarctica.<\/p>\n

So, I started to investigate more, and I realized this was a site that had been exposed just recently by snowmelt that\u2019s occurring there and that these fresh remains were actually ancient but just being re-exposed after being frozen for centuries.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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https:\/\/twitter.com\/IFLScience\/status\/1311232000938905600?s=20<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The Ad\u00e9lie penguins used the nesting grounds for thousands of years. Strewn about the site, countless pebbles are a tell-tale sign. As Ad\u00e9lie penguins nest, they gather pebbles to protect their eggs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As recently as 100 years ago, nothing was found at the same location by early explorers. Today, after 800 years, the ancient colony is once again visible.<\/p>\n

What happened to the penguin colony?<\/h2>\n

According to the Times:<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cDr. Emslie speculates\u00a0in the journal Geology. where he reported his findings in mid-September<\/a>, that cooling temperatures drove a type of sea ice to form along the coast that persisted well into summer months.<\/p>\n

Known as \u201cfast ice\u201d because it \u201cfastens\u201d to the coastline, this sea ice makes it very difficult for penguins to gain access to beaches and prevents them from colonizing places where it occurs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Today, sea levels are rising along with temperatures. Fortunately, Ad\u00e9lie penguins alive today are proving adaptable, seeking out new nesting grounds. Now, the scientist believes they will return to their ancestor\u2019s old nesting ground. Finding the wealth of pebbles already in place, they may find the location highly desirable.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey need pebbles for their nests, so they are going to find all the pebbles that are already on the land at this site very attractive,\u201d he said. \u201cI would not be surprised to see them make this place their home again in the near future,\u201d said Emslie.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Related Read: Scientists discover giant\u00a0human-sized penguin\u00a0that once lived in New Zealand<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

An Ad\u00e9lie penguin \u2018Supercolony\u2019<\/h2>\n

In 2018, scientists revealed the discovery of a huge \u2018supercolony\u2019 of Ad\u00e9lie penguins in Antarctica. Studying NASA satellite images, they spotted penguin feces in the remote Danger Islands.<\/p>\n

Before the discovery, researchers believed the penguin populations were on the decline. Afterward, they counted over 750K pairs of penguins.<\/p>\n

See more about the supercolony from TIME below:<\/p>\n

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https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_7h7t_i4FBM<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Intruders in Earth\u2019s last \u00a0\u2018untouched\u2019 wilderness<\/h2>\n

As Antarctica warms, there is\u00a0a surge in tourism<\/a>\u00a0in one of the wildest remaining places on Earth. Mostly by cruise ships, there could be more than 78,500 visitors this year, up from 56,000 tourists in the two prior years.<\/p>\n

As humans begin to arrive more frequently, scientists fear they will disrupt the fragile, relatively untouched environment. Along with the people, insects and plant seeds could arrive. Thus, isolated penguin colonies and other wildlife will have to rapidly adapt to more than climate change alone.<\/p>\n

Antarctica has seen incredible changes over millions of years. Some 250 million years ago, the continent may have been covered with forests and rivers. Instead of penguins, early relatives of the dinosaurs called Antarctica home.<\/a><\/p>\n

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https:\/\/twitter.com\/tveitdal\/status\/876375110034354176?s=20<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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Featured image: Adelie Penguins by\u00a0<\/em>Christopher Michel<\/em><\/a>\u00a0 via\u00a0<\/em>Wikimedia Commons\u00a0<\/em><\/a>(CC BY 2.0)<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Go to Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n

YouTube Video Here: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_7h7t_i4FBM?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1<\/p>\n

Penguin mummies dating back thousands of years have been discovered in Antarctica.<\/p>\n

An ornithologist from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, Steven Emslie, has studied penguins in Antarctica for over 15 years. Over the years, he\u2019s discovered penguin remains from abandoned penguin colonies, tracing clues about climate changes.<\/p>\n

In recent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3923872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ancient-code","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3923872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3923872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3923872\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3923872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3923872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3923872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}