Why penguins thrive in climate change

Penguins are on the front line of climate change, as rising global temperatures melt the ice the iconic and lovable creatures call home.

Scientists who count the birds are finding that penguins are beginning to feel major impacts from the drastic changes to their habitat, reports ABC News.

But, perhaps surprisingly, the breeding populations of three brush-tailed species of penguins inhabiting the Western Antarctic Peninsula, where the temperatures are warmest, are not all falling as the ice is quickly melting.

"We know two of the three penguin species in the peninsula, chinstrap and Adélie, are declining significantly in a region where, in the last 60 years, it's warmed by 3 degrees C. (5 degrees F.) annually and by 5 degrees C. (9 degrees F.) in winter," said Ron Naveen, the founder of Oceanites, a U.S. based non-profit and scientific research organization. He oversees the Antarctic Site Inventory which monitors penguin populations.

A third species, however, has not been losing numbers and in fact has even been expanding its range.