Color-Changing Animals Are Rebelling Against Climate Change

The academic journal Science examined 21 species in 60 different countries that shed brown coats and turn white to match the snow. Since global warming has reduced the snowfall in many parts of the world, these animals turning white in snow season have become much more vulnerable.

However, evolution is here to save them and they are outsmarting climate change with their ability to change colors to adjust to their current environments.

Their color-changing ability is "a trait that evolution has shaped to carry these animals through climate change over deep time," says study leader L. Scott Mills, a wildlife biologist at the University of Montana. 

By protecting geographic regions that are home to color-changing species with both winter color types, humans could give the species time to spread their darker-coat genes, and help them stay resilient despite climate change.