Why are penguins getting 'divorced' at an alarming rate?

It turns out breakups aren't just reserved for us humans, as a new study has found that "divorce" is relatively common amongst little penguins.

A colony of 37,000 little penguins - the world's largest - on Philip Island, Australia, were analysed by scientists from Monash University for over 13 breeding seasons for this conclusion to be reached and these findings were published on January 11 in the Ecology and Evolution journal.

Divorce rates can provide decent insight into the health of a colony, particularly for reproductive success as more chicks were produced during times when the divorce rate were low.

Statistically speaking, out of the 1,000 couples there were 250 "divorces" after a decade, while others were "widowed".

iStockphoto by Getty Images

What causes penguins to "divorce"?

Some penguins split from their partners to find new mates and the possible reasons behind this could be down to a disappointing mating season, or because of a stressful environment so look to increase their breeding chance for the next season.

"In good times, they largely stick with their partners, although there's often a bit of hanky-panky happening on the side," study co-author Richard Reina, head of the ecophysiology and conservation research group at Monash University in Australia, said in a statement.

But the grass isn't always greener and this can come at a cost.

"However, after a poor reproductive season, they may try to find a new partner for the next season to increase their breeding success."

Although, there can be issues when there are high "divorce" rates within the colony in the same season as there are more penguins searching for a new partner, consequently between finding and courting each other it can result in delayed breeding.

"Furthermore, this may force parents to forage for their chicks during times of poorer food availability because of the delay in beginning reproduction caused by having to spend time finding a new mate."

Plus reproduction success with new couples isn't always a guarantee as the study found that there's most likely to be "no breeding familiarity," "reduced reproductive efficiency" and less efficient do things such as nest-building, egg incubation, and chick-rearing when compared with couples that have been together longer who have established a strong bond over time.

"Our results also suggest that monitoring divorce rates could offer a valuable, noninvasive tool for tracking reproductive trends in seabirds, particularly in populations facing fluctuating environmental conditions," authors of the study concluded.

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