by Kaitlyn Spees

“Warming temperatures are forcing Antarctic penguins to breed earlier and that’s a big problem for two of the cute tuxedoed species that face extinction by the end of the century, a study said. … The Adelie and chinstrap penguins are specialists, eating mainly krill. The gentoo have a more varied diet. They used to breed at different times, so there were no overlaps and no competition. But the gentoos’ breeding has moved earlier faster than the other two species and now there’s overlap. That’s a problem because gentoos, which don’t migrate as far as the other two species, are more aggressive in finding food and establishing nesting areas, [biologists] said.”
—NPR

(With apologies to Herrick)

Gobble down krill hordes while ye may;
The time to breed’s approaching.
Does it seem earlier? It is.
And gentoos are encroaching:

The rocks on which you built your nests
In prior years are teeming
With other penguins’ eggs and young—
It ought to leave you steaming.

The whole damn globe is heating up;
It’s getting warm and warmer.
And to outlast your neighbor you’ll
Just have to outperform ‘er.

So eat your krill and lay your eggs;
Raise chicks that show distinction,
Since otherwise your species risks
complete and sad extinction.