Melting ice imperils 80% of emperor penguin colonies in this century
Climate change is threatening emperor penguins with extinction in much of their range, federal wildlife officials said as they announced a proposal to protect them under the Endangered Species Act.
The penguins live much of the year on Antarctic sea ice, which is disappearing or breaking apart because of the heat-trapping gases released by humans’ use of fossil fuels. The penguins need the ice to breed, raise their young and escape predators.
“The decisions made by policymakers today and during the next few decades will determine the fate of the emperor penguin,” Martha Williams, principal deputy director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said.
If listed as threatened, the birds would join a couple of dozen species that the federal government considers threatened by climate change, including polar bears, two kinds of seals and 20 coral varieties.
Although the species is not found in the U.S., a listing under the Endangered Species Act would mean that federal agencies would have to minimize harm from U.S. activities in their habitat.
The proposal was informed by scientific research that was published independently in the journal Global Change Biology on Tuesday. That study found that if sea ice continues to disappear at the rate predicted by climate models given the world’s current energy trends and policies, more than 80% of emperor penguin colonies would in effect become extinct by 2100.
But, the scientists stress, it doesn’t have to be that way. If the world takes swift and drastic action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris climate agreement, enough sea ice will be left to support a reduced, but still viable, population of emperor penguins.
The tallest of all penguins, emperors stand almost 4 feet. After laying a single egg, females go off to hunt, and males nurture the egg by holding it on their feet and covering it in a feathered pouch. After it hatches, the parents take turns caring for their offspring. If the sea ice disappears before the young penguins exchange their fluffy baby feathers for sleek adult ones, they cannot swim in the frigid waters and will die.
Sea ice is essentially frozen ocean. The penguins often cannot climb ice shelves to find habitat on land, and harsh conditions there may deplete penguins’ energy reserves.
Environmentalists say they hope that listing the penguins will increase pressure on the Fish and Wildlife Service to consider the impact of fossil fuels on threatened species when it offers input on whether federal permits should be granted.
“The hope is that, with these added protections, approvals of U.S. fossil fuel projects will have to weigh harms to penguins and their Antarctic habitat, ultimately reducing heat-trapping pollution worldwide,” said Sarah Uhlemann, international program director at the Center for Biological Diversity.