A new study suggests that climate change may be the cause of the increasing mortality rates among penguin chicks. Results of the study showed that a penguin colony's population was heavily affected by predation and starvation. However, it was also noted that one of the leading causes of death among young penguins is hypothermia.

Researchers from the University of Washington led by Dee Boersma monitored the population of approximately 400,000 Magellanic penguins from 1983 to 2010. These penguins are living in Punta Tombo, a peninsula off the coast of Argentina. The researchers visited the penguin colony's nests at least once a day everyday from September to February to gather data on the general health status of the colony. They were also able to check on the chicks which hatched in November and December.

Data gathered by the researchers showed that the young penguins, aged between 9 to 23 days old, are heavily affected by rainstorms passing through the area. These young penguins suffer from the extreme cold because they are too young to have waterproof feathers yet they are too big to be able to seek shelter and warmth under adult penguin's bodies. The frequency of rainstorms has increased throughout the researcher's data gathering period and this phenomenon is consistent with the effects brought about by climate change.

"They have to have waterproof feathers to survive," Boersma told LiveScience.com. "If chicks don't have waterproof plumage, they are going to die as soon as they end up in the water."

They also cited in the study that of the 233 storms that passed through the area, only 16 storms claimed the life of young penguin chicks. However, these types of storms that killed the penguin chicks are expected to become more frequent and stronger as predicted by climate models.

The study was published in the Jan. 29 issue of PLOS One.