Three years ago, following a study published on Global Change Biologywe published this article that contained a question in the title: Will the emperor penguins extinguish themselves by the end of the century?
Today, a study published on Communications Earth & Environment Delete that question point: IT models on the progress of their population, built on the basis of satellite images, confirm that the populations of Emperor Penguins are collapsing at an impressive rhythmto the point that by 2100 these birds could disappear completely.
Very rapid decline. Before arriving at the study, a few numbers. The previous census, which dates back to 2018, showed that the antarctic population of emperor pinguini had collapsed by almost 10% in the previous decade. A decline due to global warming and in particular to the dissolution of Antarctic ice, which are fundamental for the survival of these birds.
The study of the British Antarctic Survey does not cover the entire continent, but a single region, in which, however, 30% of all the emperor of the world live. This region has been studied via satellite: it is the fastest and most effective way to make numerical estimates on the populations, since it is to do it in person, as you can imagine, quite complicated given the climatic conditions of Antarctica. Despite therefore referring only to a sample (however very significant), The results of the study are worrying for the entire species.
The only salvation. But what are these results? The study explains that, in the last 15 years, From 2009 to 2024, the emperor penguins saw a 22% reduction in their population. It is a higher percentage also than that envisaged by all IT models in this regard – in other words, reality has also exceeded the most pessimistic forecasts.
According to the authors of the study, the only possibility of salvation for the emperor penguins would be the Block of greenhouse gas emissions: In practice, to avoid seeing them extinct we must stop global warming. In addition to obviously to continue with the storage efforts, establishing protected marine areas and preventing the commercial exploitation of Antarctica.
