Climate change could wipe out 90% of emperor penguin colonies by 2100

The next time you are in climate change denial, take a look at the above cute, fluffy little emperor penguin chicks and imagine them drowning and/or freezing to their deaths all at once. New research estimates that up to 10,000 of these little birds were killed late 2022 as the Antarctic sea-ice underneath them melted and broke apart.

Happy feet are no longer happy as their habitats shrink owing to global warming. Scientists believe that the little chicks would have plunged into the cold Antarctic sea before they could develop their waterproof feathers, drowning or freezing to death. Or they could have drifted apart on broken ice sheets all alone, lost to their parent penguins and eventually starving to death.

The study

• The study was published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment. 
• Researchers analysed satellite images of the sea ice at Verdi Inlet, Smyley Island, Bryant Coast and Pfrogner Point attached to the Antarctic Peninsula.
• The images showed the usually stable sea ice at Bellingshausen Sea breaking apart earlier than usual.

• The images also showed the disappearance of emperor penguin colonies at a time when the chicks had not yet grown waterproof feathers. 
• The colonies are visible due to large patches of brown guano or a buildup of emperor penguin excrement on the white sea ice. 

• The reason for their deaths - climate change caused by human use of fossil fuels. 
• Emperor penguins rely on sea ice for the breeding season. And the current catastrophic loss means that the numbers cannot be recovered for another year or more.  
• Recent research has pointed out the alarming rate at which the sea ice in the Antarctic is shrinking, putting the habitat of Emperor penguins at risk and the species at risk of extinction. 

• In July 2023, researchers noticed that sea ice nearly as big as Argentina was missing from the Antarctic. 

Scientists estimate that 90% of emperor penguin colonies are likely to go extinct by the end of the century as the Antarctic sea ice continues to shrink. Emperor penguins are not threatened by hunting or fishing by humans, they face only one threat which is shrinking sea ice caused by global warming.