The world's second largest colony of emperor penguins has lost almost every chick for three years in a "catastrophic" breeding failure linked to melting sea ice.
Antarctica's Halley Bay usually attracts 14,000 to 25,000 breeding pairs, or up to 9 per cent of the world's entire population of emperor penguins, each year.
But since 2016 almost every chick hatched there has died before reaching fledgling age as ice melts early, a study of satellite images by the British Antarctic Survey has found.
"These images have clearly shown the catastrophic breeding failure at this site over the last three years," said Dr Peter Fretwell, who led the study, which was published yesterday.
Emperor penguins incubate, hatch and raise their young on sea-ice during the Antarctic winter.