Heat waves in one part of the world, freezing blizzards in another — such weather extremes have a profound impact on wildlife as well. Here are some of the more surreal examples.
Image: Imago/Bluegreen Pictures
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Boiled bats falling from the skies
What sounds like a line from the Book of Revelation is in fact currently happening in Australia. It's not a sign of the impending Apocalypse (hopefully) but of an extreme heat wave that has gripped the country. The bats in question - gray-headed flying foxes - can weigh as much one kilogram (2.2 lbs.) with a wingspan of up to one meter (3.3 feet).
They mainly eat nectar, pollen and fruit and are a common sight in southeastern Australia. But they don't fare well when temperatures rise significantly above 30 degrees Celcius (86 degrees Fahrenheit). Australia's southeast has been experiencing a serious heat wave in recent days with thermometers showing readings as high as 47.8 Celsius. As a result, the megabats, young ones in particular, have been dropping from the skies. Dead. At last count, 204 animals had been killed by the heat.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/F. Cerabino
Frozen but not dead
On the other side of the globe, in the United States, Iguanas have been falling from trees for the opposite reason. It's too cold! Florida, which is used to tropical heat all year round, has seen temperatures fall to near freezing and suddenly the green lizards have been tumbling from the trees left and right.
The good news is they aren't dead - at least not all of them. Shocked by the cold, they freeze - figuratively speaking. It's not a new phenomenon and once the temperatures rise again, the more cold-resistant among them will come back to life. Ironically this process of natural selection makes iguanas, initially an invasive species in Florida, increasingly capable of surviving in colder climates so we shouldn't be surprised if they gradually start so show up further north than sunny Florida.
Iguanas in Florida weren't the only ones caught off-guard by the recent sudden drop in temperatures in the eastern United States. But not all creatures fared as well as the green lizards. During the "bomb cyclone" that hit the northeastern states, frozen sharks suddenly started to wash up on Cape Cod in Massachussets. And yes, they were literally frozen and very much dead.
Thresher sharks, which is the species in question, can go some way to retaining their metabolic heat, enabling them to survive in colder water for longer than many other shark species. Usually that would be an advantage but in this particular case, it may have been their downfall. Since they can cope with lower temperatures better than other sharks, threshers tend to stay in the coastal waters of Maine until late December long after other species such as makos or blue sharks have left for warmer climes.
Nobody knows for sure what killed the threshers but scientists suspect they were surprised by the sudden drop in temperature and as they scrambled to get south quickly, they may have beached. Or simply died of hypothermia.
Image: Imago/Imagebroker/N. Probst
Too hot to be a guy
Hypothermia is the least of the green sea turtles' worries in the northern part of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Warm temperatures there have led to a massive gender shift among the animals. That's because the turtles are among those species whose gender is determined by the temperature the eggs are exposed to during incubation. When it's colder, they become male, when it's warmer, they become female. A new study has found a staggering 99.1 percent of juveniles and 99.8 percent of subadults in that part of the ocean are now female, as well as 86.8 percent of adults.
By comparison, the population around the southern Great Barrier Reef is only 65 to 69 percent female. Unless the waters start to cool in the coming years, it may soon be "women only" for the turtles. That could have a devastating effect on the population once the juveniles reach adulthood and find very few, if any, male turtles to mate with.
2017: Devastating effects of climate change
The world is increasingly taking action to stop climate change. But the frequency of devastating climate events in 2017 has shown that we are starting to run out of time. DW takes at look at some of the most dramatic.
Image: Reuters/E. De Castro
Sweltering heat
Unprecedented heat waves swept across the globe in 2017, leading to droughts, wildfires and even deaths. Australia started the year with temperatures near 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit), the "Lucifer" heat wave brought the mercury above 40 degrees Celsius throughout Southern Europe in July and August and scorching heat hit India's most vulnerable people. Get ready for next summer...
Image: Imago/Agencia EFE
Disappearing wonder
Earlier this year, scientists realized that coral bleaching in Australia's Great Barrier Reef was worse than first thought. In some parts of the UNESCO World Heritage site, up to 70 percent of the coral has already been killed. By 2050, scientists have warned 90 percent of the reef could disappear. Rising sea temperatures and ocean acidification are the main culprits.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Deadly combination
Armed conflicts are pushing millions of people to leave their homes or live in terribly precarious situations — and climate change is making it worse. A lack of natural resources increases the risk of conflict and makes life even harder for refugees. South Sudanese families, for instance, are escaping to neighboring countries like Uganda and Kenya — countries already suffering from drought.
Image: Reuters/G.Tomasevic
World on fire
From New Zealand to Spain, from California to even Greenland: the world has seen a nonstop year of wildfires. Global warming has been blamed for the increased fire risk, and in some countries that risk has turned into reality. Wildfires engulfed large areas of Europe's Iberian Peninsula, causing death and destruction, while firefighters in California have had no rest for more than six months.
Image: Reuters/G. Blevins
Record-shattering storms
Hurricanes Maria and Irma, which hit the Caribbean region in August and September, were two of the year's most damaging weather events. The list of deadly storms also included Ophelia in Ireland, Harvey and Nate in Central America and the US, and Xavier and Sebastian in Germany. Warming of the ocean surface has led to more evaporation, and that water may help fuel thunderstorms and hurricanes.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/Str
Melting Antarctica
In July, one of the largest icebergs ever recorded separated from the Larsen C ice shelf — one of Antarctica's biggest — reducing its area by more than 12 percent. While calving icebergs in the Antarctic are part of a natural cycle, scientists have linked the retreat of several Antarctic ice shelves to global warming and are closely monitoring potential long-term effects.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/NASA/J. Sonntag
Struggle to breathe
Deteriorating air quality causes thousands of deaths around the world every year. India's capital, New Delhi, is one of the world's most polluted cities. In November, large parts of northern India and Pakistan were engulfed by a blanket of thick smog carrying harmful particulate matter. Schools were forced to close, and hospitals were full of people with respiratory problems.
Image: Reuters/S. Khandelwal
Oceans at risk
The high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere represent a major threat for our oceans, already in danger due to plastic pollution, overfishing and warming waters. Ocean acidification could make these waters — covering more than two-thirds of our planet's surface — a hostile environment for sea creatures. And without marine animals, entire ocean ecosystems are at risk.
Image: picture-alliance/Photoshot/B. Coleman
Fierce floods and mudslides
Superstorms often trigger flash floods and mudslides. In late December, more than 230 people were killed when a storm hit the Philippines' second-largest island of Mindanao, a tragedy exacerbated by years of deforestation. In 2017, severe floods also hit countries such as Vietnam, Peru and Sierra Leone. European countries, including Greece and Germany, also felt the damaging effects of heavy rain.
