The climate crisis is poised to deliver a severe blow to the United States’ most threatened animals, with a new study finding that almost every species considered endangered is vulnerable in some way to global heating.
The climate crisis is poised to deliver a severe blow to the United States’ most threatened animals, with a new study finding that almost every species considered endangered is vulnerable in some way to global heating. Of the 459 animal species listed as endangered by the U.S. government, researchers found that all but one, or 99.8 percent, have characteristics that will make it difficult for them to adapt to rising temperatures.
An array of threats faces these species. The California condor, once close to being completely wiped out, faces increased risk of contamination in hotter conditions. Key deer, found only in the Florida Keys, face losing habitat to the rising seas.
Whole classes of animals including amphibians, mollusks and arthropods are sensitive to the greatest number of climate-related threats, such as changes in water quality, shifting seasons and harmful invasive species that move in as temperatures climb.
Read more at Yale Environment 360
Image: A panther in the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge. USFWS
