Animals around the world are slowly developing larger ears, bulkier beaks and longer wings. A recent study suggests that climate change is driving this “shapeshift” in many species, helping them adapt to the world’s warmer temperatures.
Sara Ryding, lead author of the study and a researcher at Deakin University in Australia, believes that various species are evolving over time as warmer climates produce organisms with longer limbs and larger appendages.
Because they offer a bigger surface area to shed body heat, the larger characteristics are intended to help the animals deal with hot conditions.
She says that “many animal appendages, such as avian beaks and human ears, can be employed to remove surplus body heat”. “We discover broad evidence of endotherm ‘shapeshifting’ (changes in appendage size) in response to climate change and its related climatic warming.”
Ryding also thinks it’s alarming that we’re seeing these kinds of reactions so early in the climate crisis. “As the crisis develops, we don’t know if they’ll be able to keep up.”
Increases of up to 10%
According to new research published in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Australian birds such as the gang-gang cockatoo and red-rumped parrot have evolved to have a 10% average increase in bill size to adapt to a hotter climate since 1871.
Other victims of rising temperatures include wood mice, which have developed longer ears, and several bat species, which have developed larger wings. Meanwhile, several other bird species in North America and Australia have grown larger bills, according to the study.
“This isn’t particularly a visually noticeable gain, but it’s still functionally significant,” Ryding says.
“I don’t want the lesson to be, ‘Oh, animals are adapting in response to climate change, so they’ll be fine,’ because that is simply not true,” she adds.
“The increases in appendage size we’ve seen so far are minor – less than 10% – so the alterations are unlikely to be seen right away.”
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