Sick passenger on board led to a new penguin colony discovery: Researchers share a rare finding in the Antarctic

A previously unknown colony of chinstrap penguins has been discovered on the remote Antarctic island of Diaz Rock. This bird sanctuary is the newest penguin colony in Antarctica, located near Astrolabe Island and the volcanic peaks known as the Dragon's Teeth.

The penguins were discovered by the crew of the Viking Octantis cruise ship, which was forced to change course due to the illness of one of the passengers. The Telegraph reports.

It is noted that the seriously ill patient was taken to the nearest airport on King George Island in the South Shetland Islands for emergency evacuation to Chile. After that, a ship with researchers led by penguin keepers Hayley Charlton-Howard and Dr Mairi Hilton from the Antarctic conservation group Oceanites, went to investigate the nest.

It is noted that the volcanic massif of Astrolabe Island has not been explored since 1987. Eventually, the researchers found one large colony of more than 300,000 chinstraps penguins in the area where the Swedish Antarctic expedition was stranded in 1903.

In addition, two other species of penguins have been found on the Antarctic Peninsula, namely adelie, which are easily frightened and often flee en masse, and gentoo, which appear more unruffled except when their chicks are terrorized by skua raids.

According to Dr. Hilton, "You find a penguin colony once every three to four years. So it's really a great privilege for us to be able to do this. It was a really good day."