Penguins vs. Pollution
How are Penguins getting affected by pollution? How?!?
Penguins are losing it
Penguins are actually some of the oldest animals coming after dinosaur extinction, but now they're slowly disappearing. Due to global warming, the ice they live on is melting, limiting their options for a home, and I'm pretty sure they can't live in the water forever. They're also running out of food to eat due to overfishing krill and fish. Not only could this affect penguins, but also the rest of the food chain.
Humans Killing Penguins?? Whaaaat?!
As you could probably tell from the two examples above, humans are the main reason penguins are slowly disappearing. Not only are global warming and overfishing two big killing factors for penguins, but tourism in Antarctica could leave a negative impact. Thousands of people in the Antarctic can cause damage to the environment because of how fragile it is, especially during the breeding period. Just looking at an animal causes them stress, which could also affect their children while giving birth.
Oil doesn't like Penguins
Oil spills are a big form of pollution, and it seems like almost every organism is being killed because of these. Penguins are no exception. Bottom line: oil spills kills about 10,000 penguins annually. They're very vulnerable to them. The oil will get on their wings, and sometimes they'll eat it. It'll either kill them or make them more likely to get a disease.
Litter. Just don't do it
Litter is another big factor that causes problems for Antarctic life, like Penguins. They can attach to the animal's body and get stuck on them, causing them to become impossible to get off. A good example of this is plastic. It can get caught around the animal's head, cut into the skin and cause a slow and painful death for the animal. It's gruesome and really sad to look at, and is just very deadly to all marine animals.
Penguins are People
It discourages me that pollution is so threatening to these innocent creatures. They don't ever bother anyone. They live in a place where nobody else wants to, they give life to other animals, eat fish, and repeat the cycle. So it's a shame that we'd take the lives of harmless and innocent animals. Throw trash away, help limit global warming to a safer level, just do whatever you can, because these animals don't deserve to be treated like this. What did they ever do? Plus, they're so dang cute. >_<