Penguin populations are declining, which is bad news not just for the tuxedoed birds but for, well, the world in general. A new scientific review published in the journal BioScience shows that everywhere they live, penguins are suffering from a combination of climate change, ocean pollution, overfishing, tourism, and development. “Many penguins we thought would be safe because they are not that close to people,” says study author P. Dee Boersma. “And that’s not true.” Of 17 recognized penguin species, three species are endangered, seven are vulnerable, and two are “near threatened,” according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. And what happens to penguins doesn’t stay with penguins, says one expert: “What happens to penguins, a few years down the road can happen to a lot of other species and possibly humans.”
