--- title: Climate Change Threatens Antarctica's Emperor Penguin Population description: New research says Antarctica's population of emperor penguins will be cut down by a fifth by the end of the century canonical: https://time.com/2943857/anarctica-emperor-penguin-endangered/ author: Nash Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-01T07:20:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:01:11.088Z article:section: Science og:title: Climate Change Threatens Antarctica's Emperor Penguin Population og:description: New research says Antarctica's population of emperor penguins will be cut down by a fifth by the end of the century og:url: https://time.com/2943857/anarctica-emperor-penguin-endangered/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt714e92b6658c5421/698699f9cd6848207a09579d/penguins-antarctica.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: A pair of Adelie penguins are pictured at Cape Denison, Commonwealth Bay, East Antarctica on Dec. 28, 2009. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Climate Change Threatens Antarctica's Emperor Penguin Population twitter:description: New research says Antarctica's population of emperor penguins will be cut down by a fifth by the end of the century twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt714e92b6658c5421/698699f9cd6848207a09579d/penguins-antarctica.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Climate Change Threatens Antarctica's Emperor Penguin Population ## Video: Watch: The Point of View of A Polar Bear [Watch (HLS stream): Watch: The Point of View of A Polar Bear](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DUc98KfG.m3u8) (0:41)  _Published 2014-06-08. Watch: The Point of View of A Polar Bear_ by [Nash Jenkins](https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Jul 1, 2014 7:20 AM UTC  A pair of Adelie penguins are pictured at Cape Denison, Commonwealth Bay, East Antarctica on Dec. 28, 2009. A pair of Adelie penguins are pictured at Cape Denison, Commonwealth Bay, East Antarctica on Dec. 28, 2009.Reuters by [Nash Jenkins](https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Jul 1, 2014 7:20 AM UTC [New research](http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28089988) suggests that Antarctica’s population of emperor penguins will be cut down by a fifth by the end of the century as a result of changing climates, which will impact the species’ feeding and mating patterns. According to a [study published](http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate2280.html) in the journal _Nature Climate Change_, there are currently about 600,000 emperor penguins living in Antarctica. Researchers, anticipating a 19% to 33% drop in their numbers, have encouraged governments across the world to list the species as endangered. Doing so would place restrictions on tourism, fishing and other activities that may prove further detrimental to their survival. Still, the greatest hazard comes from warming temperatures’ impact on sea-ice cover, which the penguins rely on for travel and hunting. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2943857/anarctica-emperor-penguin-endangered/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2943857/anarctica-emperor-penguin-endangered/"},"headline":"Climate Change Threatens Antarctica's Emperor Penguin Population","datePublished":"2014-07-01T07:20:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:01:11.088Z","description":"The greatest hazard comes from warming temperatures' impact on sea-ice cover, which the penguins rely on for travel and hunting","url":"https://time.com/2943857/anarctica-emperor-penguin-endangered/","keywords":["climate change","animals","antarctica"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt714e92b6658c5421/698699f9cd6848207a09579d/penguins-antarctica.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nash Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt714e92b6658c5421/698699f9cd6848207a09579d/penguins-antarctica.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A pair of Adelie penguins are pictured at Cape Denison, Commonwealth Bay, East Antarctica on Dec. 28, 2009.","caption":"A pair of Adelie penguins are pictured at Cape Denison, Commonwealth Bay, East Antarctica on Dec. 28, 2009.","creditText":"Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/climate-change/","name":"climate change"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2943857/anarctica-emperor-penguin-endangered/","name":"Climate Change Threatens Antarctica's Emperor Penguin Population"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch: The Point of View of A Polar Bear","description":"Watch: The Point of View of A Polar Bear","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/DUc98KfG/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-06-08T16:35:32.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DUc98KfG.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/2943857/anarctica-emperor-penguin-endangered/","duration":"PT41S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/2943857/anarctica-emperor-penguin-endangered/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```