Great leap forward to escape ice break-up

The break-up of giant icebergs in Antarctica may have spurred on the evolution of the local Adélie penguins, according to scientists.

Reporting today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, David Lambert of Massey University in New Zealand found significant changes in the DNA sequences of modern penguins and of 6,000-year old ancestor remains, and attributed it to a process called microevolution.

He hypothesised that the break-up of icebergs split up many nesting colonies, forcing them to migrate to other nesting sites, and mix with other types of penguin.

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