Marine scientists are calling for the urgent reclassification of the extinction threat level faced by the emperor penguin, after a change in approach to assessing the conservation status of the species and the environmental status of its Antarctic habitat suggest it could be lost within a lifetime. Calculating the unique life history and critical dependence of emperor penguins on the Antarctic environment, scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) are calling for a threat level update, suggesting the species now meets a criteria ranging from Vulnerable to Endangered under the guidelines established by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This would represent a ‘significant and urgent change’ from their current classification of Near Threatened to highlight the increased risk emperor penguins face due to anticipated changes to their home in the Antarctic.