7 animals we could lose forever due to climate change

Though coral typically like cauliflower, bushes and other plants, they are actually animals — albeit “sessile” ones, meaning that they root to the ocean floor and do not move as most animals do. Yet the coral reefs that house these spiny and colorful marine invertebrates contain complex ecosystems which fuel the entire marine food web. That is why climate change destroying our coral reefs is, really, about a whole lot more.

“We will lose many coral species, and the resulting degradation of reef ecosystems will threaten hundreds, if not thousands, of reef species with extinction,” John Hocevar, a marine biologist and director of Greenpeace’s oceans campaign, told Salon by email. “Ice dependent species, such as many seals, walrus, and polar bears, may disappear. Krill abundance will decline in Antarctic waters, impacting everything from penguins to whales.”