WASHINGTON (AFP) – The emperor penguin, the species popularized in modern culture by the 2005 documentary "March of the Penguins," are at serious risk of extinction in parts of their range because of climate change, according to a new study published this week.
Researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), predicting the effect climate change and resulting losses of sea ice will have on the penguins, found that disappearing habitat will have a profound impact on the species.
If climate change continues to melt sea ice at the rate highlighted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the large emperor penguin colony in Terre Adelie, Antarctica is set to shrink from its current 3,000 breeding pairs to only 400 pairs in 2100.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said the probability of a "drastic decline" by 95 percent or more is at least 40 percent, and could be as much as 80 percent.
"Such a decline would put the population at serious risk of extinction," said researchers.
