MAJOR CAUSE OF EXTINCTION
The emperor penguin, which roams Antarctica’s frozen tundra and chilly seas, is at severe risk of extinction in the next 30 to 40 years as a result of climate change, an expert from the Argentine Antarctic Institute (IAA) warned. The emperor, the world’s largest penguin and one of only two penguin species endemics to Antarctica, gives birth during the Antarctic winter and requires solid sea ice from April through December to nest fledgling chicks. If the sea freezes later or melts prematurely, the emperor family cannot complete its reproductive cycle.
The study, published this week in the journal Global Change Biology, estimates that 98 percent of emperor penguin colonies will become quasi-extinct by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at their current pace. As Rachel Pannett of the Washington Post explains, quasi-extinct means some individuals may survive but in such low numbers that the population is doomed. In just under 30 years, in 2050, the study predicts around 70 percent of colonies will be quasi-extinct unless the world rapidly curbs greenhouse gas emissions.
STUDY REPORTS , FACTS & ANALYSIS
In recognition of the world’s largest penguins’ precarious future, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced on Tuesday its proposal for listing the emperor penguin under the Endangered Species Act, reports Catrin Einhorn for the Times. “Climate change, a priority challenge for this Administration, impacts a variety of species throughout the world,” says Martha Williams, Principal Deputy Director of USFWS, in a statement. “The decisions made by policymakers today and during the next few decades will determine the fate of the emperor penguin.”
Recent estimates using satellite imagery suggest there are between 531,000 and 557,000 emperor penguins in the world. These birds survive some of the most extreme conditions on Earth: colonies huddling together on the Antarctic Sea ice are blasted by winds that can reach nearly 90 miles per hour and temperatures of minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. These tough birds have very specific preferences when it comes to sea ice.
In 2016, a particularly low sea ice year drowned roughly 10,000 baby emperor penguins from a colony in Antarctica’s Halley Bay, according to the reports, parts of the Antarctic Peninsula have seen their sea ice coverage decline by more than 60 percent in three decades, which has virtually erased one emperor penguin colony. A 2019 study, also led by researcher Jenouvrier, estimates that if the world met the Paris Climate Agreement’s target of limiting warming to under 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial temperatures that only around 20 percent of emperor penguin colonies would become quasi-extinct.
However, as Jenouvrier writes in the Conversation, the world is not on pace to meet that target. She cites an estimate from Climate Action Tracker, that suggests our planet has a greater than 97% probability of exceeding the Paris Agreement’s secondary target of 2 C (3.6 F) with its current slate of climate policies. Since climate change is the emperor penguin’s main threat, the potential Endangered Species Act listing could have significant ramifications.
CONCLUSION – WHY THE NEED TO SAVE THEM ?
Meeting the Paris goal could save the penguins. The results of the new study showed that if the world meets the Paris climate agreement targets, keeping warming to under 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 F) compared to pre-industrial temperatures, that could protect sufficient habitat to halt the emperor penguins’ decline. Everything in nature is connected. If you remove one animal or plant it upsets the balance of nature, can change the ecosystem completely and may cause other animals to suffer. For example, bees may seem small and insignificant, but they have a huge role to play in our ecosystem – they are pollinators. This means they are responsible for the reproduction plants. Like Without bees, many plant species would go extinct, which would upset the entire food chain. Same here is the logic the emperor penguins are a vital part of the Antarctic food chain – they eat creatures like squid and small fish, and are an important source of food for predators like leopard seals and large sharks. We need to save the endangered species by sustainable measures as already we have lost many beautiful species.
Read More-https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/facts/emperor-penguin
