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6 Marine Animals Threatened by Climate Change
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6 Marine Animals Threatened by Climate Change
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6 Marine Animals Threatened by Climate Change

Global warming could wipe out these ocean-dependent species in the near future.

April 09, 2016 Nicole Mormann
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Polar Bears

Polar Bears

Melting sea ice is one of the biggest threats to polar bears. The marine mammals spend a majority of their lives on sea ice and half their time hunting for their primary source of food—ringed and bearded seals—on it. Yet, polar bears face the possibility of starvation as decreasing sea ice means less time for hunting and more time on dry land searching for alternative food sources.

Experts estimate there are about 22,000 to 31,000 polar bears left in the world.

A recent study found that polar bears in Canada have been losing weight over the last three decades as a result of depleting sea ice along the northern coast of Ontario. Researchers found that polar bears now get 30 fewer days on ice than they did in previous years, which has led some to lose up to 100 pounds.

(Photo: Mathieu Belanger/Reuters)

Sea Turtles

Sea Turtles

Of the seven existing species of marine turtles in the world, three are classified as critically endangered, and an additional three are endangered. While female turtles have the ability to lay hundreds of eggs each nesting season, only a few hatchlings survive, and if they do, many turn out to be female.

Oddly enough, the temperature of a mother’s nest can determine the sex of sea turtle offspring, with warmer temperatures producing female eggs and colder temperatures producing male eggs, according to the World Wildlife Fund. As temperatures continue to climb as a result of climate change, marine turtle species could face extinction if fewer males are born with every nesting season. Rising ocean levels in South America also threaten the species, considering sea turtles often use Brazilian beaches as a place to lay their eggs. 

Scientists have a difficult time quantifying the number of sea turtles, considering male turtles and young hatchlings spend most, if not all, of their time in the water while females only come on shore to lay their eggs. However, experts estimate that there are 1,000 to 10,000 nesting females left of the most endangered sea turtle species, Kemp’s ridley turtle. 

(Photo: Hugh Gentry/Reuters)

North Atlantic Right Whales

North Atlantic Right Whales

Eubalaena glacialis, otherwise known as North Atlantic right whales, are one of the most endangered large whales in existence, with about 500 left. Right whale populations have declined drastically over the centuries owing in large part to hunting, though it’s prohibited in areas like Massachusetts, where the law mandates that anyone without a search permit can’t come within 500 yards of them. 

Right whales feed on plankton, but because warming waters contain fewer amounts of the organisms, the remaining whales have had to migrate to colder areas where plankton is more plentiful. Cape Cod Bay recently saw an influx in right whales, with dozens arriving in early March, though researchers said the sight was unusual for the time of year. 

(Photo: David L. Ryan/Getty Images)

Galápagos Penguins

Galápagos Penguins

Galápagos penguins are the only penguin species that lives north of the equator. With fewer than 2,000 left, the island seabirds are considered endangered.

Severe El Niño weather conditions have wiped out half of the population since the early 1970s, according to the World Wildlife Fund, causing many to become emaciated and incapable of producing offspring. Populations are expected to further dwindle, as experts predict climate change will continue to make El Niño conditions worse.

(Photo: Tim Ellis/Flickr)

Tufted Puffins

Tufted Puffins

The tufted puffin is a seabird native to North America. Between 1975 and 2002, warming temperatures at the world’s largest puffin breeding colony caused a decline in growth rates of puffin nestlings—birds that are too young to leave their mother’s nest. When waters were warmest, hardly any hatchlings had developed the feathers necessary for flight. The World Wildlife Fund warns that breeding could become unfruitful for the colony if climate change continues to worsen. According to the North American Waterbird Conservation Plan, there are about 2,750,000 to 3,000,000 tufted puffins in the world. 

(Photo: Steve Johnson/Getty Images)

U.K. North Sea Seabirds

U.K. North Sea Seabirds

In 2004, climate change was linked to a lack of breeding of U.K. North Sea seabirds, including common guillemots, Arctic skuas, great skuas, and kittiwakes. A shortage of sandeels, a small fish that’s an essential food source for these birds, was said to be the cause. The shortage was attributed to warming waters disrupting the normal ocean food cycle. 

Researchers estimate that about 8 million seabirds from 25 different species breed in Britain and Ireland. 

(Photo: Getty Images)

6 Marine Animals Threatened by Climate Change
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8 Stunning Wildlife Photos That Capture Nature’s Patterns
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8 Stunning Wildlife Photos That Capture Nature’s Patterns

When photographer Art Wolfe put together the original edition of his wildlife photography book Migrations, he was trying to emulate Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher. “I wanted to pay homage to Escher and the patterns he created,” he said—particularly the famous woodcut Sky and Water in which a flock of birds transforms into a school of fish.

But digitally altering some of the photographs to obtain the effects he was after led to some controversy. “Purists said that it was creating false numbers, lying about the numbers of animals,” he said.

Wolfe doesn’t consider his work to be journalism and calls such images “digital illustrations” rather than wildlife photography, but he grew to understand why the reaction was so strong: People care about these animals and their fate. “When you’re dealing with wildlife, it brings out people’s emotions, and that’s a good thing,” he said.

For the revised and updated edition of Migrations, which will be published on April 1 by Earth Aware Editions, Wolfe has replaced dozens of the original photographs with new images. He said that in all but a few, he got the pattern effects he desired via advances in digital photography rather than post-processing—and, of course, thanks to the beauty and behaviors of the animals themselves, such as these silvery-coated harbor seals sunning on an island in Washington’s Puget Sound.

“There’s a little less pure pattern in this book and more about migrations,” Wolfe said.

Enter the gallery to see seven more photographs of wild animals on the move.

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Oceans are vital to our planet, and yet as climate change worsens, the effects of such are proving to have devastating consequences on species that rely on its waters for survival.  

Warming temperatures, melting ice sheets, and rising sea levels are disrupting some of the world’s most important ocean habitats and ecosystems, forcing many animals to migrate in search of colder climates and necessary food resources.

RELATED:  U.S. to Ban Captivity of Some Beluga Whales

If global warming continues at its current rate, threatened species could be facing mass extinction in years to come, according to the World Wildlife Fund. In areas where changes in climate are occurring too fast for species to adapt, greater losses are more likely to occur. 

Here are six marine animals that could disappear as a result of climate change. 

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