--- title: Animals Are Helping to Slow Climate Change—But They're Dying description: The decline in animal populations in tropical forests may play a role in accelerating climate change, according to new research. canonical: https://time.com/4156004/animals-climate-change-forests/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-19T16:29:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:31:06.295Z article:section: Science og:title: These Animals Are Helping to Slow Climate Change—But They're Dying og:description: The decline of certain animals may accelerate climate change og:url: https://time.com/4156004/animals-climate-change-forests/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb84bd5cc3cb9ae67/6988763ebc6cfc21a43daf12/toucan-climate-change-forests.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: toucan climate change forests animals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Animals Are Helping to Slow Climate Change—But They're Dying twitter:description: The decline of certain animals may accelerate climate change twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb84bd5cc3cb9ae67/6988763ebc6cfc21a43daf12/toucan-climate-change-forests.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # These Animals Are Helping to Slow Climate Change—But They're Dying  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Dec 19, 2015 4:29 PM UTC  Brazil, Mato Grosso, Mato grosso do Sul, common toucan, Ramphastos toco, sitting on a tree Brazil, Mato Grosso, Mato grosso do Sul, common toucan, Ramphastos toco, sitting on a treeWestend—Getty Images/Westend61  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Dec 19, 2015 4:29 PM UTC The decline in animal populations in tropical forests may play a role in accelerating climate change, according to new research. The [study](http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/11/e1501105), published in the journal _Science Advances_, shows how the loss of animals reduces the ability of forests to store carbon that would otherwise accelerate global warming. Large animals like [large primates, tapirs and toucans](https://www.uea.ac.uk/about/-/Extinction-of-large-animals-could-make-climate-change-worse) play a key role distributing the seeds of the large trees that store the most carbon and in turn ensuring a healthy forest. The researchers note that tropical forests store 40% of the world’s carbon, but that carbon is released into the air when forests are degraded or destroyed. The decline in those animal populations thus has a tangible effect on how well their habitat can prevent carbon from reaching the atmosphere. Deforestation has been a hot topic in discussions about how to reduce climate change, but the focus on animals has been less prominent. The new research adds relevance to campaigns to protect endangered animals in tropical forest areas where populations are on the decline due to everything from hunting to logging. The study also adds to a growing area of research focused on how to address climate change by [restoring nature](http://time.com/4070683/nature-climate-change/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4156004/animals-climate-change-forests/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4156004/animals-climate-change-forests/"},"headline":"These Animals Are Helping to Slow Climate Change—But They're Dying","datePublished":"2015-12-19T16:29:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:31:06.295Z","description":"Animals play a key role keeping forests healthy","url":"https://time.com/4156004/animals-climate-change-forests/","keywords":["climate change"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb84bd5cc3cb9ae67/6988763ebc6cfc21a43daf12/toucan-climate-change-forests.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb84bd5cc3cb9ae67/6988763ebc6cfc21a43daf12/toucan-climate-change-forests.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"toucan climate change forests animals","caption":"toucan climate change forests animals","creditText":"Westend—Getty Images/Westend61","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/4156004/animals-climate-change-forests/","name":"These Animals Are Helping to Slow Climate Change—But They're Dying"}}]}] ```