Climate change is threatening the sea ice environment of Emperor penguins.A new study suggests that 98 percent of Emperor penguin groups may be pushed close to extinction by the year 2100.And about 70 percent of their groups will be in danger by 2050.The research was published in the journal Global Change Biology.The United States Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced a plan to list the Emperor penguins as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.Stephanie Jenouvrier is a penguin ecologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.She said that Emperor penguins need secure sea ice to reproduce, to feed and to molt.Molting is the replacement of their old feathers with new ones.The new study looked at overall warming developments and the increasing likelihood of extreme weather changes because of global warming.The study noted that extremely low levels of sea ice in 2016 led to a large reproduction failure of an Emperor penguin group in Antarctica's Halley Bay.
