--- description: New research says Antarctica's population of emperor penguins will be cut down by a fifth by the end of the century title: Climate Change Threatens Antarctica's Emperor Penguin Population image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt714e92b6658c5421/698699f9cd6848207a09579d/penguins-antarctica.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [climate change](/tag/climate-change/) ## climate change Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Climate Change Threatens Antarctica's Emperor Penguin Population by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 1, 2014 7:20 AM CUT  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](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 1, 2014 7:20 AM CUT [New research](http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28089988 "undefined") 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 "undefined") 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":"2026-02-21T08:54:53.223Z","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"}}] ```