Emperor penguins now endangered as climate change shrinks sea ice

emperor moth penguins, the largest penguin species, ar at present listed as endangered followers a young international assessment of how climate change is affecting their habitat and population.

The new classification is more than just a change in the status of one species. It is another grim sign of how human-induced climate change is harming ecosystems in Antarctica, where sea ice has fallen to record lows.

The penguins rely on sea ice while raising chicks and during moulting season, when they shed old feathers and cannot safely swim in the ocean. But that sea ice is breaking up earlier as the planet warms, according to an assessment by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which maintains the global Red List of threatened species. 

"Emperor penguins are a sentinel species that tell us about our changing world and how well we are controlling greenhouse gas emissions that lead to climate change," said Philip Trathan, a member of the IUCN specialist group that worked on the emperor penguin's Red List assessment.

Satellite analyses show the spring population of emperor penguins has been declining for more than a decade, the assessment said. While the population remains large — estimated by remote sensing surveys in 2020 at 54 colonies with about 256,500 breeding pairs — it fell by nearly 10 per cent from 2009 to 2018. 

The number of chicks and other non-breeding penguins is not known, partly because the remote Antarctic region is so difficult to monitor. The assessment says that, depending how much the planet warms, emperor penguin populations could fall by 30 to 59 per cent over the next three generations.

"Penguins are already among the most threatened birds on Earth. The emperor penguin's move to Endangered is a stark warning: climate change is accelerating the extinction crisis before our eyes," said Martin Harper, CEO of BirdLife International, a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that co-ordinated the IUCN's penguin assessment.

The emperor penguin was joined by the Antarctic fur seal, which also moved to the endangered category after its population dropped by more than half between 1999 and 2025. The fur seal is suffering because its food source, krill, is being pushed into deeper waters by climate change and warmer water temperatures.

Krill shortages are reducing the survival of seal pups, the IUCN's assessment said, and leaving the population older overall.

The emperor penguin was previously categorized as "Near Threatened" on the IUCN Red List. Its new "Endangered" designation means it is now considered to face a very high risk of extinction in the wild.

The assessment recommended closer monitoring of the emperor penguin's sea-ice habitat, using satellite surveys to better understand how their populations are changing.

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