The status of the emperor penguin has been changed from “near threatened” to “endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The organization, a global network of scientists, governments and civil society, points to an existential threat to the species as the ice sheet melts because of human impact on the climate.
Emperor penguins need sea ice to live, hunt and mate, and as large patches of ice disappear, their numbers have declined sharply. The population is expected to halve by 2080 if nothing is done.
