Multimedia Items
Why are emperor penguins an indicator of climate change?
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announced a proposal to list the emperor penguin as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), based on evidence that the animal’s sea ice habitat is shrinking and is likely to continue to do so over the next several decades. Research from penguin scientists is key to informing policy around much-needed protections for the emperor penguin. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s additional collaborative research efforts suggest how conservation actions can help to increase species’ resilience to climate stress, including protecting habitat, increasing habitat connectivity, and reducing non-climate stressors, such as overfishing and ocean pollution.
Read MoreThe Paris Agreement objectives will likely halt future declines of Emperor Penguins
Emperor penguins are uniquely adapted to the harsh conditions of their sea ice home. This video outlines how emperor penguins are indicator species whose population trends can illustrate the consequences of climate changes.
Read MoreA seabird symposium: emperor penguins
WHOI seabird biologist Stephanie Jenouvrier gives a virtual symposium at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography about her work to model and predict the fate of emperor penguins in Antarctica during a time of rapid change
Read MoreAre Emperor Penguins Eating Enough?
Scientists are concerned that as climate change progresses, emperor penguins may not find enough food to build up body fat. This is especially important in the winter when they […]
Read MoreEmperor Penguins and Climate Change
By Cherie Winner :: Originally published online August 12, 2014
Read MoreEmperor Penguins & Climate Change
At nearly four feet tall, the emperor penguin is Antarctica’s largest sea bird—and one of the continent’s most iconic animals. Unlike other sea birds, emperor penguins breed and raise […]
Read MoreMarch of the Penguins
Emperor penguins are some of the most striking and charismatic animals on Earth, but a new study from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has found that a warming climate may render them extinct by the end of this century. The study, which was part of an international collaboration between scientists, published Nov. 7, 2019, in the journal Global Change Biology.
The fate of the penguins is largely tied to the fate of sea ice, which the animals use as a home base for breeding, feeding and molting, she notes. Emperor penguins tend to build their colonies on ice with extremely specific conditions—it must be locked into the shoreline of the Antarctic continent, but close enough to open seawater to give the birds access to food for themselves and their young. As climate warms, however, that sea ice will gradually disappear, robbing the birds of their habitat, food sources, and ability to raise their chicks.
Jenouvrier and her team conducted the study by combining two existing computer models. The first, a global climate model created by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), offered projections of where and when sea ice would form under different climate scenarios. The second, a model of the penguin population itself, calculated how colonies might react to changes in that ice habitat.
Read MoreEmperors in Danger
Since the 1950s, scientists have known that emperor penguins may be threatened by retreating sea ice posed by warming temperatures and other climatic changes. WHOI biologist Stephanie Jenouvrier led a team […]
Read MorePenguins on (Shrinking) Ice
Four penguins march over a massive cornice on their way to a secluded part of the Cape Crozier colony, on the rim of the Ross Sea in Antarctica. The birds, […]
Read MoreOases in Sea Ice Are Essential to Life in Antarctica
This video explains the key physical, biological and ecological processes in oases on the Antarctic icy coast — polynyas. Researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the University of Delaware are trying to unveil crucial connections among the physical and biological components in the polynyas and to understand how the Antarctic ecosystem responds to changes in the large-scale environment.
Read MoreA tipping point
Emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) are the largest species of penguin and one of the most charismatic animals on Earth. Their lifecycle is dependent on sea ice for breeding, feeding and […]
Read MoreSee SPOT Run
Diminishing sea ice in the Antarctic will mean fewer fish and squid to eat for emperor penguins—like these at Atka Bay Colony. The Single Penguin Observation and Tracking (SPOT) Observatory […]
Read MoreLong Walk on Shrinking Ice
Emperor penguins make long treks to reach their foraging grounds, sometimes up to 75 miles during the winter. However, diminishing sea ice means they may have less success in finding […]
Read MoreWhat’s New Penguin?
Penguins have been in the news a lot this spring. In March, WHOI seabird ecologist Stephanie Jenouvrier was part of a team of scientists and engineers who discovered of a […]
Read MoreBy Their Chinstraps
Penguins are like the proverbial canaries in coal mines for the Antarctic region—they are highly sensitive to the impacts of climate change on their food and habitat. Over the past […]
Read MoreWorld Penguin Day
A trio of Emperor penguins playfully slides into Antarctic water. These iconic birds are threatened by ecosystem shifts, including the melting of sea ice—a solemn reminder of climate change on this World […]
Read MoreOn Thin Ice
Feeling the Heat
Chinstrap penguins pant on a warm summer day at Orne Harbor, in the western Antarctic Peninsula, during a research expedition led by WHOI post-doctoral scholar Read More
Kings of the Cold
At nearly four feet tall, the Emperor penguin is Antarctica’s largest sea bird—and thanks to films like “March of the Penguins” and “Happy Feet,” it’s also one of the […]
Read MoreChanging landscape
Emperor penguins, which delighted audiences of the Academy Award-winning documentary March of the Penguins, could be sliding on the path toward extinction—the victims of climate change, according to […]
Read MoreLife on (and under) the ice
WHOI marine biogeochemist Mak Saito snapped this image of two Emperor penguins while working in Antarctica in November 2009. Over the past two years, Saito and his colleagues […]
Read MorePassing muster
A trio of Emperor penguins appear to inspect a sled full of equipment during an Antarctic expedition in January. The team of researchers, led by Stan Jacobs of Lamont […]
Read MoreMarching toward extinction?
Emperor penguins (popularized by the 2005 movie “March of the Penguins”) depend on sea ice for their daily lives — it’s where they breed, feed, and molt. These young […]
Read MoreMarch of the Juveniles
Emperor penguin chicks hatch into the frozen world of Antarctica—one of Earth’s most inhospitable places. A recent study reveals what the juveniles do in the critical early months […]
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