Emperor penguins listed as endangered by US

Context

The emperor penguin has been officially declared a threatened species by the US government due to the existential risk posed to the birds by the climate crisis. 

About

• The emperor penguin is the tallest and bulkiest of all the world’s penguins.
• The penguins are endemic to Antarctica.
• Emperor penguins can stand up to 4ft tall and are famed for their extreme parenting methods, with pairs of males and females taking turns to shelter their eggs in brutally cold conditions while the other forages for food. 
• While the penguins have an almost comically ambling gait on land, they are skilled operators on the sea ice and water where they hunt for fish and crustaceans.

Threats

• They face almost complete annihilation from the loss of sea ice over the course of this century.
• Climate change is having a profound impact on species around the world.