Hello readers. Welcome to #FactFriday on CleanbuildVoices!

Climate change has been one of the greatest challenges of our time and it poses a great threat to animals and their natural habitats, thus resulting in loss of animal life and even extinction of certain species.

Animals rely heavily on their environment for living and they, unlike humans, may not easily have access to food, water, and other resources that the earth provides.

If we do not safeguard our environment, we will be at risk of losing some of the animals that ensure a working ecosystem due to climate change.

Below are 4 animals that need our help to survive:

African Elephants

African elephants are known migrators in search of food, water, and habitat.

Because they rely on environmental signals to dictate their migration pattern, these African Elephants are greatly affected by climate change.

The average African elephant consumes liters of water daily, but the increasing temperatures and irregular rainfall which causes drought, put them in a vulnerable position as they become unable to find places to drink water.

This has resulted in the death of several elephants. In 2019 alone, over 200 elephants died Zimbabwe.

Bees

Bees are popularly known as agents of pollination which means that they work to pollinate plants that produce many seeds and fruits that serve as food sources for humans and wildlife.

Indeed, bees have a valuable role to play in creating and maintaining our environment but they are in steep decline, with 10 million hives disappearing just in the past three years.

The scale of their decline is worrying because, without bees, some crops could fail, resulting in a reduction of food for humans and other species.

Sea Turtles

The odds have not always been in favor of sea turtles. This is because of the egg to hatch ratio of their eggs.

For every 1,000 sea turtle eggs laid, only one turtle reaches adulthood due to natural predators and other obstacles, and even the ones that make it to adulthood face numerous threats from humans who hunt their meat, eggs, and shells.

In addition to that, pollutants like oil spills, plastics, and other harmful debris find their way to the habitats of these sea turtles. As if that isn’t enough, climate change is basically saying, “hold my beer”.

Climate change is exposing sea turtles to even greater threats because rising sea levels caused by melting glaciers and stronger storms erode and destroy their habitats.

As the warming oceans change ocean currents, it exposes these sea turtles to new predators.

To add to their predicament, the high temperature of the beach sand as a result of climate change leads to a decline in the male gender of their offspring during incubation according to several studies.

Puffins

The living conditions of Puffins have plummeted due to climate change.

for one, puffins feed on fish and the heatwaves are causing the fish to migrate, making the puffins starve and become weak.

Secondly, because of the marine heatwaves and extreme storms, the number of chicks that are likely to survive has declined.

Also, their nests get flooded during heavy rainfalls and as a result, exposed their chicks to cold and predators.