<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/09/mass-drowning-of-chicks-puts-emperor-penguins-at-risk-of-extinction>
"The mass drowning of emperor penguin chicks as sea ice is melted by the
climate crisis has led the International Union for Conservation of Nature
(IUCN) to declare the species officially in danger of extinction.
Emperor penguins rely on “fast” ice – sea ice that is firmly attached to the
coast – for nine months of the year. It is where their fluffy chicks are
hatched and grow until they have their waterproof feathers. Adults moult every
year and also need a safe haven while their swimming feathers regrow.
However, global heating has led to record lows in Antarctic sea ice since 2016.
When sea ice breaks up early, entire colonies can fall into the ocean, leaving
the chicks to drown. Even if some penguins escape the water, they are soaked
and will freeze to death.
Four of the five known emperor penguin breeding sites in the Bellingshausen Sea
collapsed in 2022, with the loss of thousands of chicks. Another colony in the
Weddell Sea collapsed in 2016. Researchers called the catastrophes “grim” and
“extraordinarily distressing”.
The IUCN assessment projects that the emperor penguin population will halve by
the 2080s owing to sea ice loss. The current emperor penguin population is
estimated at 595,000 adults, having already fallen by 10% between 2009 and
2018.
Emperors are the largest penguin species and jumped two categories, from “near
threatened” to “endangered” in the new IUCN analysis.
The assessment also found the climate crisis had driven a halving of the
Antarctic fur seal population since 2000, owing to a reduction in the krill
that the animals rely on for food. The seal has jumped three categories from
least concern to endangered in the latest red list of threatened species.
“The emperor penguin’s move to endangered is a stark warning: climate change is
accelerating the extinction crisis before our eyes,” said Martin Harper, the
chief executive of BirdLife International, which coordinated the IUCN
assessment. “Governments must act now to urgently decarbonise our economies.”"
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
