It’s been a long time since you first saw that sad commercial with a skinny polar bear floating on a tiny chunk of ice.

And we still haven’t fixed things for the endangered animals we share this planet with. Let’s face it.

Humans have  created a hellscape on Earth. Climate change, habitat  destruction, and increasing chemical use have come with huge population losses for many organisms. But, against all odds, some species have been absolutely thriving and increasing their numbers.

From hummingbirds to penguins, here are some of those winners and how they pulled it off. [♪INTRO] Migratory hummingbirds are struggling these days. And it’s because, among other reasons, humans have been cutting  down their habitat and food. We’re logging and making way  for dense human settlements.

These hummingbirds fly long  distances and rely on the food and shelter that’s always been available  to them at their destination. But when it’s not there, they have a problem. The younger ones especially  are surviving less and less.

It’s possible that juveniles are traveling routes that are more impacted by logging. And since they’re inexperienced  with how to survive when migrating, they may be less equipped to handle unexpected interference  along their travels. But while those Hummingbirds  are struggling to make ends meet, one species  called Anna’s Hummingbird is increasing in number and  even expanding their ranges.

Who’s Anna? I have no idea, but congrats to them because their hummingbirds are doing great. It might look at first glance  like these hummingbirds are moving north to avoid the hotter temperatures in their old habitats thanks to global warming.

But a study tracking their movement found that their old habitat wasn’t  getting consistently warmer. So Anna’s Hummingbirds are moving north and it’s not because of the climate. Instead, they’re moving toward …us?

It’s super counterintuitive,  since dense human settlements replacing forests are the exact problem that’s taking down some Hummingbirds. And our neighborhoods seem  like they would come with habitat fragmentation, all sorts of pollution, and generally fewer resources for the birds. But Anna’s Hummingbirds have  adapted to work with us, instead of suffering because of us.

Over time, these birds have been moving to locations with lots of people  for the food of course! Urban heat islands are often warmed to an optimal temperature for flowers to grow year-round. And these hummingbirds love a good nectar snack.

But don’t think the hummingbirds  are the only ones changing their behavior. Anna’s Hummingbirds  might be changing us too. See, they’re specifically  moving to locations where humans put out nectar feeders for hummingbirds.

As humans see more birds in  the area, they are more likely to put out those feeders for  them, which then increases the bird populations in the  area and it begins a cycle. And here’s what makes Anna’s Hummingbirds ready for this habitat change  while others are in trouble: Anna’s Hummingbird beaks have evolved into a new, longer shape. These beaks could help them reach deeper into a long flower, or say, a nectar feeder.

A longer bill also means there  is more volume to take up nectar. And these bills are great for poking, stabbing, and generally fighting off other hummingbirds to defend their nectar feeder turf. So while some hummingbirds struggle to find food along their migration  path, Anna’s Hummingbirds have cozied up to us humans and totally changed their beaks to keep the food  we provide under their control.

But as we know, our impact on the world is not just a problem for those critters up in the sky. Fish are feeling our impacts even from the water. Migratory fishes are pretty vulnerable.

They’re having trouble with warming waters, which is way more harmful for them than if you or I got in a too-hot shower and  feel a little uncomfortable. They take a lot of cues from water temperature. For example, it informs eggs  when it’s Springtime and there’s probably a lot of food  around, so they should hatch.

But, as temperatures grow  unnaturally higher, little baby fish are coming out too early, before  there’s enough food for them. And the warmer rivers make them  start their migration too soon. While it’s getting harder and  harder for some fish to survive, the Atlantic Herring are  increasing their population size.

Now, temperature and reproduction  are tightly linked for herring, just like many other fish, but for another reason. The warmer water speeds up their  reproductive maturation, and that drives the herring to arrive  at their spawning sites earlier. A study from 2024 found  that for every one degree of temperature increase during  the winter, the herring have started showing up to their spring spawning sites one week earlier than they used to.

That alone wouldn’t solve the mismatch with food and resources like the salmon  might suffer for example. But the herring are also  extending their spawning season, which gives their juveniles a greater chance of being around when the food is plentiful. So herring are reproducing  faster and for longer to line up with warming waters, which not  all fish have figured out yet.

And while some Atlantic fish are increasing and others are decreasing their populations, the vast majority of all  butterfly species are in danger. Between the years 2000 and 2020, butterflies on the whole decreased by 22%. Habitat fragmentation and loss from human settlement are big hurdles,  along with climate change, pesticide use, and the other usual culprits.

But some butterflies are increasing in number, namely, guys like the umber skipper. A study from 2025 found that  the species that are doing the best these days seem to  have several key qualities. They spend the winter as hearty adults instead of in their larval form.

After all, vulnerable babies have less water and energy saved up than adults. So as climate change makes  things warmer and dryer, there’s less snow cover to burrow under  and larvae can get dehydrated. They also tend to have longer  wings, be able to survive off a wide range of plants rather than a select few, and be comfortable living around us humans.

Seems like these butterfly species and the Anna’s Hummingbirds have the same  idea about getting comfy with humans even though we caused their problems. Something about keeping your enemies close? But this next animal is taking  things an entirely different route and staying as far away from us as possible.

But before we dive into those amazing facts, we’re going to take a little break for some ads. Thanks to our longtime sponsor, Brilliant, for supporting this SciShow video! Brilliant is an interactive online learning platform with lessons that stick with you.

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They encourage critical thinking and problem solving through puzzles and quizzes. Then you get to play with real world data to contextualize your new skills. Unlike the Krebs cycle, I’m sure you won’t forget to try Brilliant at brilliant.org/scishow,  the QR code onscreen, or the link in the video description.

It comes with 20% off an  annual premium subscription. You probably can’t even imagine a reindeer without picturing it surrounded by a frozen tundra, maybe with a sleigh in the background. Everything about them screams winter.

And as climate change gets more severe, the Arctic is one of the  places that feels it most. Weather patterns are becoming more volatile up there, and they’re seeing a nasty cycle of rain falling and then freezing over. Reindeer rely on being able  to forage for plants by digging through the snow, but  when the snow is too deep, hard, or completely iced over, they  can’t break through to get food.

There’s a bit of a debate about whether this is what’s driving overall population declines or just killing off the most vulnerable reindeer. But even with the most sympathetic view, these weather patterns are still  responsible for killing reindeer. In spite of all that, one type of reindeer seems to be beating the odds.

The Svalbard Reindeer is increasing in population despite living in the Arctic, the most quickly-warming region on the planet. Their population is now 3.5 times more abundant than they were at the beginning of the century. And they’re doing it by changing their diets as the climate warms.

They’re eating less mosses and more grasses. Yum! Even though this might seem like a subtle switch, it’s done wonders for their population.

Grasses in the Arctic have been thriving with temperature and soil nutrient  increases from climate change, so there’s just more of them around. Even as the Svalbard Reindeer eat more grass, it responds well to that,  taking nutrients released from reindeer feces and urine to grow even more. Again, um, yum?

Also, grasses poke through  the surface of the snow, unlike mosses, so they’re  accessible throughout the winter, even during the ground hardening. But even when the snow or ice prevents reindeer from accessing the grass, Svalbard Reindeer have another trick that  outshines even Rudolph’s nose. They are proportionally the  fattest deer in the world.

What a superlative! You could say they rival Santa after eating millions of cookies on Christmas Day Svalbard Reindeer can get up  to 40% body fat by the end of autumn, whereas other deer  only get up to around 20%. That fat helps sustain them over the winter in their isolated arctic home.

So while some reindeer struggle to get food, the Svalbard Reindeer make the  changing Arctic work for them. But way on the other side  of the world, some of the cutest little cold-weather  animals are not doing too hot. Over the past three decades,  we’ve lost about 40% of the sea-ice cover in the  western Antarctic Peninsula.

And most penguin populations in Antarctica are not doing well under those conditions. The lack of sea ice has thrown the ecosystem out of balance there. And for some penguins, one of their main snacks, krill, are down by 80% since the 1970s.

But while many penguins are struggling, Gentoo Penguins are increasing in number despite also living on Antarctic islands and peninsulas. One paper even describes them  as “climate change winners.” A key reason for their success  is that Gentoo penguins are a more generalist species  than the other penguins, meaning they can survive  off multiple types of food or environments, rather than  relying on one specific resource. While some penguins are picky  eaters and only want krill, Gentoo Penguins go for small  fish, squid, and other food.

Generalists often have a  better chance of survival in a changing climate because when  one food source is eliminated, they can switch to another, rather than being totally decimated by that loss. But another reason for their success is not moving around all too much in the winter. Now for us, doing some jumping jacks in the cold might help your body heat up for a little bit.

But penguins would look silly trying to do jumping jacks because they have tiny legs. Also, in this case, moving around is hurting some populations of penguins more than helping. Chinstrap Penguins, for example,  travel far and wide to forage.

In doing that, they interact with other groups of Chinstrap Penguins. But since Gentoo Penguins don’t, each group of Gentoos stays  pretty isolated from the next. This has allowed them to microadapt to their local environmental conditions.

Specifically, they’ve adapted the famous “powerhouse of the cell,” the mitochondria. This is where you get your energy. And different environments require  different amounts of energy.

For example, a penguin needs to  be really efficient at producing heat energy to keep itself  warm in a cold environment. And animals with only a  little food need to be more efficient at making energy  from those few nutrients. The Gentoo populations in areas with lower temperatures have more of the mitochondrial DNA that helps them produce energy efficiently.

So adapting to specific  environments relatively quickly and not being picky eaters pretty much explains why Gentoos are outrunning climate change. Now, it’s great to get some  good news about animals surviving in the hellscape that  we’ve turned this planet into. But remember, these species are the exceptions.

We can only estimate based on fossils, but it looks like extinction rates are at least 100 times higher than before humans were around. So congratulations to our  exceptional hellscape winners. Your reward is survival. [♪OUTRO]