The WWF has predicted that up to half of plant and animal species in the world’s most naturally rich areas could face local extinction by the turn of the century due to climate change if carbon emissions continue to rise unchecked.
So in our latest campaign for Bulb, the UK’s biggest green energy company, we teamed up with wildlife presenter and naturalist, Steve Backshall, to gather his insights into how some of our favourite animals around the world will need to evolve in order to survive the impacts of climate change.
Steve’s predictions were turned into a series of stunning illustrations to reveal just how drastic some of these changes could be – many of which could even be seen in our lifetime.
The illustrations show how white polar bears could morph into a grizzly bear hybrid and live on the land instead of snow as ice caps continue to melt; puffins could lose their colour and flare by blending into nature, and giant jellyfish the size of dustbins could dominate fishless oceans and start to feed on larger prey, like bottlenose dolphins.
They also show how walruses are at risk of losing their insulating blubber and could struggle to find food. And balding bat-eared foxes with larger ears and feet, and a longer nose, could be seen scavenging in the hot and dry African desert.
And the story has certainly captured media attention, clocking up coverage in the Evening Standard’s Picture of the Day, Mail Online, Daily Star, Verge Magazine and even going global as far as Yahoo in Taiwan.
Another successful campaign from the H&G team, but also an important lesson in terms of how we all need to do our bit to help save our wildlife and protect the planet.
