The research found that numbers fell 22 percent over the past 15 years at monitored colonies inhabited by the world’s largest penguin species.

Satellites were used to assess 16 colonies on the Antarctic Peninsula, the Weddell Sea, and the Bellingshausen Sea, representing nearly a third of the global population of this penguin.

The study covered the recent period of sea ice loss from 2020 to 2023 and now offers an updated regional population assessment.

“Emperor penguins are probably the clearest example of the real impact of climate change. It’s not fishing, it’s not habitat destruction, it’s not pollution that’s causing their population decline. It’s just the temperature of the ice on which they breed and live, and that’s really climate change,” commented Peter Fretwell of the British Antarctic Survey.

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