penguins – BioQuakes

IfSince the early 2000s, concerns about melting sea ice in the Arctic have raised questions about how it may affect animal populations. Much research has exposed how climate change has affected animals such as Polar Bears, Snow Leopards, and other Arctic-dwelling mammals. But now, a new study published on ScienceNews shows how the rising climate change crisis may soon lead to the loss of Emperor Penguins. The Penguins’ lack of stable ice when breeding means that newly-born penguins aren’t given the proper time to fledge, and when sea ice potentially breaks, they are left behind due to their inability to swim.

Most Penguins can swim due to their hydrophobic wings and coating, which means their wings will not mix with water and rather stay away from it. The coating on their feathers, made of natural oils(lipids) and proteins, gives penguins wings a sense of waterproofness, meaning they don’t get wet while swimming. However, baby penguins don’t have this and instead have fluffy, hydrophilic feathers that soak up and mix with water while swimming, making it much harder for them to swim long distances. In the study, about 10,000 baby Emperor Penguins were observed, of which only about 850 survived due to melting ice forcing baby penguins to swim longer distances than possible. For now, Emperor Penguins are safe, but if these trends continue, the study shows that by 2100, the population of these Penguins can be halved.

Tell us what your favorite animal is in the comments below! Penguins have been my favorite animals since I saw them in many movies and shows, such as Surfs Up!, Happy Feet, and Penguins of Madagascar. Because of this, I must share ways in which you can contribute to stopping this pressing matter. We must cut our carbon footprint by taking simple steps like driving less, using wind or solar energy instead of fossil energy, and being overall more conscious of what we do on a day-to-day basis. There is still a lot of hope for Emperor Penguins, but they may soon be gone if we do not act now. If you know any other animals that use hydrophoic principles to help them survive in the wild, let us know in the comments!

In this article, it talks about birds that are able to dive underwater what it does to them. There are three types of diving birds – foot propelled, wing propelled, and plunge divers. It talks about how these birds adapt to the environment and are able to get food by diving. This actually hurts some species of birds because they aren’t fully suited for it. Some birds that dive or plunge underwater aren’t meant to do this and could cause damage to the neck and bones in the chest. This is causing these birds to go extinct. This hurts the penguins the most because they are specialized in diving compared to other species of birds and the environments change which make it hard for them to adapt. The environments changes are caused by marine heat waves which affects the birds adaptation to the environment.

In an article similar to the main one, it talks about how when penguins are on land they are at a disadvantage compared to other species of birds even though they are the best at diving. Then there are other bird species like gulls that can adapt to eating food in the water and out.

In another article, it also talks about how body size matters when it comes to diving of bird species. Penguins use their wings to dive for food but can’t fly obviously. Cormorants for example use their feet to kick and swim underwater. The birds that use their wings have a large body and this helps them develop a larger body. So depending on what kind of diving the bird does. All these different traits make the biggest difference into why penguins and wing propelled divers are going extinct.

This connects to what we have learned this year in AP Bio because of the adaptions. When we studied plants this year, we understood what kind of things they needed to survive. For example we saw that the plants we grew in class this year needed a certain amount of light and water. It also connects with plants will use certain things for example their roots being able to pull the water throughout the rope that goes through the dirt.

BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

Tag: penguins

Is the End of Penguins Near?

Bird Diving can Lead to Extinction

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