Scientists have discovered penguin chicks fouled with oil close to an abandoned US Antarctic research station.
The oiled Adelie penguin chicks were found at Cape Hallett, said a scientist with the research group Antarctic New Zealand, Emma Waterhouse.
It was "the first oil-contaminated penguin breeding site discovered in Antarctica," she said.
A scientific cleanup party had found about a dozen melt pools of ice fouled with "what appeared to be petroleum residue."
The contaminated pools were up to 20m long and 5m wide.
The fouled chicks were living nearby, among a colony of 50,000 breeding pairs.
- NZPA
Oiled chicks in Antarctic
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