Penguins offer evidence of global warming

The first Adelie penguin chicks of the season -- black fluffballs small enough to hold in the hand -- started hatching this month, and the simple fact that there are more of them in the south and fewer of them further north is a sign of global warming, scientists say.

Smaller than the more majestic Emperor penguins, the Adelies have some 193 colonies that have a total population of 2.5 million breeding pairs, said researcher David Ainley in a telephone interview from his camp at the penguin rookery at Cape Royds in Antarctica.

"We're looking for dramatic right-hand turns (in the penguin population), which are happening now," Ainley said. "The rate of Adelie penguin colony disappearance is accelerating as the sea ice disappears.