As temperatures continue to drastically change each year, animals have been forced to adapt different behaviors, demonstrating acclimatory traits that may contribute to a reduction in their species.
It is no secret that our tropical sunshine state has recently become more of a victim of cold temperatures. Puffer jackets and coats have now become a wardrobe staple over the past weeks, and are likely to continue until the end of February. With that said, this sudden shift in temperature is not new to us. As winters get colder and summers get hotter each year, the animals, like us, have also been forced to adapt to these climate shifts.
Due to these changes, animals have begun settling in new regions, altering ecosystems. This poses an issue with food and resource supply for the already established animals, and creates new competitors in that region’s food chain.
In other instances, animals have begun changing their migration patterns and breeding seasons, often commencing either weeks or days earlier, and ending weeks or days later. Although it may not seem like much, a major shift in breeding season and migration can cause a scarcity of food and ultimately a plummet in species population.
In the Arctic, for example, penguins have begun their breeding season earlier due to the warming temperatures in the North. Temperatures in the Arctic have increased by about 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit from 2012 to 2022. As this alteration causes penguins to adapt to their environment, it results in their mating period starting two weeks earlier than usual.
What is the issue of penguins starting their reproduction period a few weeks earlier? Well, food. As little chicks begin to hatch, the demand for food will increase within their niches. However, because the period in which they hatched is too early, starvation starts to rise in their groups, ultimately leading to the death of our black and white friends due to food scarcity.
It is scary that this issue is not solely affecting penguins. In fact, these patterns can be found in other birds as well. For our flying companions, migration is a crucial behavior for the survival of their kind. However, as of late, some avians have begun migrating early, and some have started migrating late, while others don’t migrate at all.
With changes in precipitation and climate all playing a factor in their survival, some birds have found themselves late and/or early to their spring feast. As a result, their migratory patterns become out of sync with food resources and potentially lead them to become another animal group victimized by starvation, reducing their population size.
As there are other traits that birds can potentially learn — such as different food habits or preparatory time — it is still unclear if their and other animals’ adaptive traits will be enough to allow them to survive in our changing world. Research to study their instinctual behaviors is being continued.