Global Warming and Penguins

A variety of species of penguins have been declining due to the effects of global warming. Starvation, habitat loss, and the fact that the penguins' world is literally breaking up under their feet are all contributing factors to dramatic population loss.

In one instance, a large number of Adelie penguins were literally made prisoners and starved because global warming had unexpectedly altered their habitat. In 2004, Antarctica's McMurdo Sound was blocked by the mountainous remnant of the world's largest iceberg. The iceberg cut off supply routes for several research bases on the sound and was so big that it blocked wind and water currents that would normally break up the ice in the sound and make access to the sea much easier for researchers and penguins. As a result, tens of thousands of Adelie penguin chicks and their parents were stranded inland with a 112-mile round trip being the shortest distance to gather food. Experts estimate that the three colonies of Adelie penguins may have declined by up to 70 percent (Biggest iceberg threat to penguins, scientists (Global Warming Of Course)).

The decline of the rockhopper penguin is another example of how warming temperatures are affecting these beloved birds. The number of rockhopper penguins breeding on one island has gone from 1.4 million to only 100,000 in the last 60 years--most likely due to warming waters surrounding the island (Film Sparks Discussion of Fate of Penguins in the Face of Global Warming).

Even the movie-stars of the penguin world, the emperor penguins, are not safe from global warming. In fact, according to National Geographic News, the population of emperor penguins has been cut in half over the past 50 years (Penguin Decline in Antarctica Linked with Clime Change). These amazing animals can withstand some of the harshest conditions on Earth, but they cannot continue to sustain themselves without krill--a shrimplike creature that is a staple of the emperor penguin's diet. The sea ice necessary to the survival of krill larvae is disappearing earlier and taking with it 80 percent of the krill population. The emperor penguins are starving to death because the warming air and water is drastically changing the environment to which they have adapted.