Emperor penguins face an uncertain future under global warming.
Global warming has significant effects on the Antarctic region due to its sensitivity to changes in temperature and climate. The effects of global warming on Antarctica encompass several crucial aspects: the melting of ice sheets leading to sea level rise, the gradual retreat of glaciers, disruptions to ecosystems, the warming and acidification of ocean waters, and the deterioration of ice shelves.
A recent report has unveiled distressing data showing that approximately 10,000 emperor penguins died in late 2022. This tragic event occurred as the sea ice beneath the young chicks dissolved and fractured due to global warming.
Unfortunately, these chicks had not yet developed the essential waterproof feathers needed to swim in the Antarctic ocean, leading to their unfortunate and untimely deaths.
According to the study, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, more than 90% of emperor penguin colonies are projected to face extinction by the end of this century. This dire prediction is attributed to the diminishing seasonal sea ice across the continent, a consequence of the ongoing global warming phenomenon.
"Their populations have never been subject to large-scale hunting or suffered from habitat loss, overfishing, or other local anthropogenic interactions in the modern era, and therefore, unusually for a vertebrate species, climate change is considered the only major driver of their long-term population change," the authors of the study said.
"What we're seeing right now is so far outside what we've observed previously. We expected change, but I don't think we expected so much change so rapidly," Dr Caroline Holmes, an expert on Antarctic sea ice, told BBC News.
"Studies in the Arctic have suggested that if we could reverse climate warming somehow, the sea ice in the polar north would recover. Whether that might also apply in the Antarctic, we don't know. But there's every reason to think that if it got cold enough, the sea ice would reform."