King penguins face a climate-driven welfare crisis as warming waters force prey distribution to shift beyond their foraging range, threatening the species by 2100.
King penguin chicks dying in mass failure events like the 2017 Adelie Island disaster experience prolonged starvation as adults cannot return with prey fast enough. Adults making longer foraging trips as prey moves further away face increased energetic costs and greater risk from weather events and predation. The species' inability to relocate breeding colonies rapidly in response to climate change means welfare harms from prey depletion will intensify. Individual chicks in failing colonies die slowly from cold and hunger over days to weeks.