Busy bees are at their busiest during summertime, cleaning the nest, foraging for food. They prefer the warm weather to colder seasons. But new published in the July 10, 2015, Science reveals that for bumblebees in North America and Europe, suitable habitat to do this work is shrinking due to a warming climate, yet the bees aren’t moving.

“Bumblebee species are retreating from the extreme southern margin of their historic ranges and losing their populations there,” Leif Richardson, a University of Vermont bee scientist told weather.com. “By contrast, in the north, we do not see bumblebee species expanding their ranges northward,” a trend happening with animals from birds to fish.

This is unusual behavior, Richardson adds. “There aren’t so many [animals] that we see this pattern for, decreasing in the south but not increasing in the north, and therefore having a compression of the total range.” Not just by a little bit, either, but by nearly 200 miles, according to a news release.

Most people incorrectly think only honeybees are the only pollinators, but . “Bumblebees are among the most important and conspicuous of native pollinators, both for wildflowers and agriculture,” notes a U.S. Forest Service pamphlet. So important, Richardson notes, that without their help, crops such as blueberries, pumpkins, tomatoes and soybeans could be in big trouble, resulting in lower crop yields and higher costs.

“Even though we’re not managing them, they come to farms to forage their own food and in so doing, they pollinate many crops,” he said, of the bumblebees. “In many plants, bumblebees are the most important pollinator even if we supply [those plants] with honeybees.” Richardson and his colleagues from the University of Ottawa and elsewhere know this because they studied 100 years worth of data using more than 400,000 museum specimens of 67 different bee species.

They learned that bumblebees are essentially disappearing from the hottest spots in these continents, noted lead paper author Jeremy Kerr in a news release. “For species that evolved under cool conditions, like bumblebees, global warming might be the kind of threat that causes many of them to disappear for good.”

We know the planet is getting warmer — 2014 was the , in the 135 we’ve been keeping records — and bees certainly aren’t the only animals feeling the heat. Here’s a look at 12 more species already in the line of fire and how they’re coping.

1. Polar Bear

The polar bear has been one of the “faces” of the climate change movement, namely because sea ice, which the animal depends on to feed, breed and travel, is melting, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “As the extent of , most markedly in the southern portions of their range, so has polar bear body size, reproductive success and survival of cubs.” These sea ice changes have, most recently, caused the bears to ; they were recently seen eating white-beaked dolphin for the first time.

The large, white bear is protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and in 2008, was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. (A 2013 court decision upheld the listing, “the first and most high-profile example of the use of the Endangered Species Act to force the federal government to adopt regulations addressing climate change,” according to the blog Endangered Species Law & Policy.) A released on July 6, 2015, from the USFWS offered a grave perspective for the mammals: “As their sea-ice habitat continues to shrink due to Arctic warming, their future in the U.S. and ultimately their continuation as a species is at risk.”

2. Muskox

Given their size, horns and fur, muskox look like they could handle just about anything. Not so. These mammals, native to Canada and Greenland and reintroduced into the United States, , the Wildlife Conservation Society reports.

Though their , warm autumn weather “leads to icing and deeper snow which restrict forage availability” for the 800-pound animals, according to the IUCN Red List. In addition, the populations on Greenland are small and scattered, the species profile continues, making them “vulnerable to local or regional fluctuations in climate.”

3. Orangutan

The is critically endangered; the is endangered. “A century ago there were probably more than 230,000 orangutans in total, but the Bornean orangutan is now estimated to number about 41,000 and the Sumatran about 7,500,” according to the World Wildlife Fund. The group also says that the biggest threat to these animals isn’t climate change itself, but rather climate change in combination with deforestation and hunting.

4. American Pika

The pika may be one of the most important species you’ve never heard of. In fact, the National Park Service and the U.S. Interior Department consider it an for detecting the effects of climate change. “Pikas are shifting their range to higher elevations in response to increased warming, and thus, their suitable habitat is being reduced,” NPS reports.

These animals in the rabbit family are small, growing up to eight inches and weighing only six ounces. And they like very particular habitat, those that offer substantial cracks and crevices for the pikas to take cover. Not only that, but they’re extremely sensitive to temperature changes, at risk of overheating or catching hypothermia when it gets too hot or too cold, respectively. By studying them, the NPS says its hopes to learn more about species’ response to climate change in general.

5. Canada Lynx

A quick glimpse at this cat and you may think you’ve come across something alien, with its pointy black ears and bearded face. A second look and you’ll notice a special feline with massive paws that help it stay on top of, rather than sink into, the snow.

It needs nearly , the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports. “But with temperatures predicted to rise in the coming years, the deep snow cover lynx depend on may be significantly reduced, eliminating their competitive advantage over other predators.” That could mean bobcats or fishers steal the prized snowshoe-hare meal before the lynx can, leaving the cat hungry, or worse.

7. Sea Turtles

“Rising temperatures, rising sea levels and other trends are having an effect on the world’s sea turtles,” according to the New England Aquarium. “ are already on the endangered species list: green turtles, hawksbills, loggerheads, Kemp’s ridleys, Olive ridleys and leatherbacks.”

It’s mostly about reproduction. The females come on shore to build nests and lay eggs; if the beaches are no longer suitable habitat — say they get too hot or there isn’t enough space — the eggs will not survive. Not all hope is lost, however, the Aquarium writes. “Sea turtles have existed for more than 100 million years and have survived ice ages, sea level fluctuations of more than 100 meters and major changes to the continents and the seas.” Though it’ll likely take time, the sea turtles will hopefully be able to adapt.

8. Right Whales

Right whales are incredible animals: They can get up to 55 feet long, weigh 70 tons and live to be 100 years old. Interestingly, from being the “right” whale to hunt at the time when commercial whaling was big, according to the New England Aquarium.

Today all are endangered with climate change a serious threat, according to the International Whaling Commission and NOAA. “Climate change will be accompanied by changes in sea surface temperature, salinity, ocean circulation and upwelling,” a NOAA factsheet states. “As a result, these changes may alter food availability, migration routes and reproductive rates for whales.”

9. Penguins

There are worldwide. “Two kinds need to live in the areas of Antarctica where ice forms on the ocean: the small Adélie penguin (10 pounds) and the large Emperor penguin (50 pounds),” writes. “The lives of these penguins are being altered by changing climate.”

It’s . For example, areas that were once solid ice have melted slightly, giving the birds more access to open water. In other places, though, that same melting effect has caused population declines. “Emperor penguins’ breeding population may shrink by up to 80 percent by 2100 as melting sea ice reduces the emperor’s once vast reach,” Discovery News reports.

10. Chinook Salmon

have an upstream battle when it comes to climate change. More severe floods mean fewer eggs will survive. Changes in winter runoff could alter plankton blooms, which in turn, could alter when salmon migrate. The list goes on. “With salmon, managing impacts to habitat is just as important as managing harvests,” according to NOAA’s Fish Watch. Luckily, the latter happens on a large scale due to active monitoring of populations and fishery adjustment each year.

11. Seals

Seals, along with sea lions and walruses, are . Until the early 1900s, many species were hunted. In fact, it was one of the biggest factors for their decline, along with coastal development and competing with us for food sources, according to NOAA. Today, climate change adds another threat, especially for species like the ringed seals, which depends on Arctic ice.As the ice changes — for instance, as it breaks up earlier than it previously had — , a dangerous predicament for either one when faced with weather elements and predators. Their survival, says the IUCN Species Survival Commission, depends on moving to new suitable habitat.

12. Narwhal

These mythical creatures may look like unicorns but they’re actually whales and they can live to be 50 years old. These swimmers are dark on the top and white on the bottom (hard to tell from pictures that show only the top). And that crazy tusk? It’s actually a tooth that protrudes from the jaw of the males, according to Defenders of Wildlife. Though we know it isn’t used to stab food, its full purpose hasn’t yet been discovered.

Narwhals live only in the Arctic and depend heavily on very specific fish for food. Given how limited the spots where they live, how few food sources they’ll eat and how hard it is for them to adapt, they’re particularly , notes a study published in June 2013 in the journal Ecosphere. “Genetic adaptation takes many generations, and given the long lifespan and generation time for narwhals and the speed of current climate changes, it is unlikely they will be able to genetically adapt to an ice-free lifestyle.”


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