Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Penguins to Have Endangered Species Review

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced that it will consider listing 10 species of penguins under the Endangered Species Act.

The 10 species under consideration for a protection ruling include the emperor penguin, the southern rockhopper penguin, the northern rockhopper penguin, the fiordland crested penguin, the erect-crested penguin, the macaroni penguin, the white-flippered penguin, the yellow-eyed penguin, the African penguin, and the Humboldt penguin.

They mostly inhabit the countries ringing or nearest to Antarctica, as well as the Antarctic continent itself.
Since penguins do not naturally occur within U.S. borders, the effects of such listing would be indirect. These ten penguin species are now among several that have been considered for listing due to threats from climate change.