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LONDON (AP) – A giant iceberg the size of the US state of Delaware is floating towards the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia, raising fears that it may indirectly endanger young wildlife.
The British Antarctic Survey said Wednesday that it feared the iceberg could run aground near the island, preventing land-based marine predators from reaching food supplies and returning to their offspring.
Professor Geraint Tarling, an ecologist with the Antarctic Survey, said it’s the time of year when seals and penguins care for pups and chicks. The distance that penguin and seal parents have to travel to find food is important.
“If they have to make a big detour, it means they won’t get back to their young in time to keep them from starving in the meantime,” he said.
The giant iceberg, called the A68, has been floating north since it broke off the Larsen C ice shelf in July 2017, according to the Antarctic Survey.
South Georgia, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, is a British overseas territory,
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