China has blocked efforts to step up protection of emperor penguins that are increasingly threatened by the effects global warming is having on their natural habitat in Antarctica,.
Dozens of countries had backed giving the world's largest penguins special protection status at a 10-day meeting in Berlin of parties to the Antarctic Treaty.
About Emperor penguin:
Scientific name: Aptenodytes forsteri.
Wild Emperor penguins are only found in Antarctica.
It is the largest member of the penguin order (Sphenisciformes), which is known for its stately demeanor and black-and-white coloration.
It is also the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species.
on ice shelves and landfast ice along the coastline of Antarctica.
Its diet consists primarily of fish, but also includes crustaceans, such as krill, and cephalopods, such as squid.
They endure temperatures of minus 40 degrees Celsius and wind speeds approaching 144 kilometers per hour by huddling together in groups of several thousand birds.
But they can’t survive without sufficient sea ice.
The penguins breed on fast ice, which is sea ice attached to land.
Sea ice is also important for resting, during their annual moult and to escape from predators.
Emperor penguins are capable of diving to depths of approximately 550 metres (1,800 feet) in search of food; they are the world’s deepest-diving birds.
It has several adaptations to facilitate this, including an unusually structured haemoglobin to allow it to function at low oxygen levels, solid bones, the ability to reduce its metabolism and shut down non-essential organ functions.
The greatest threat emperor penguins face is climate change.
IUCN Conservation status: Near threatened
Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere, with only one species, the Galapagos penguin, found north of the equator.
Every year the 25th of April is observed as World Penguin Day.
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