Environment

Melting ice pushing penguins to extinction

by JeffHuang | January 27, 2009 at 09:45 am

395 views | 12 Recommendations | 6 comments

Climate change may push penguins to extinction with floating sea ice receding in the Antarctic.
There is a 33% chance that 95% of the Adélie Land colony in Eastern Antarctica will be gone by 2100 and the penguins are showing no signs of adapting to climate changes.

Emperor penguins are likely to be melted out of house and home by climate change, according to a new study.

Earlier work suggests that Antarctica's penguins are already suffering from warming temperatures. Now a group of researchers have combined what is known about emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) ecology with forecasts from 10 leading climate change models to forecast the future of the species.

If conditions stay status quo, the penguin population could be down to a mere few hundred breeding pairs down from 3000 in 2009 and 6000 in the 1970s.

Today, the Adélies outnumber people in this icy patch of the world by 100 to 1. The ratio sounds impressive until Fraser notes that the penguin population has shrunk by 80 percent since he began studying it in 1974, and that he expects the knee-high birds to be extinct in eight years.

Winter temperatures have risen 9-11 degrees Fahrenheit causing the floating ice to disappear.

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KRÆG°NET

at 11:01 on January 27th, 2009

This was taken in the biodome in Montreal, and while penguins seem to be the favorite of many natures lovers, I felt that the section in which they were contained could have been bigger. With the world being in such environmental disarray, one can only wonder if zoos, aquariums, or any other nature exhibitions will become mere museums that can only trace the history of these fascinating animals.

KRÆG°NET has contributed a photo to this story.

RicheRifkind

at 11:17 on January 27th, 2009

Taken at Edinburgh Zoo

RicheRifkind has contributed a photo to this story.

reilly436

at 11:19 on January 27th, 2009

The apparently pristine Antarctic will suffer the consequences of global temperature changes. Ice that took tens of thousands of years to accumulate can melt in a century-far faster than wildlife can adapt.

reilly436 has contributed a photo to this story.

minx2012

at 11:53 on January 27th, 2009

Taken at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. I don't think I've ever seen live penguins, and it'd be sad if this was the one photo of them I ever get.