Climate change forcing animals into mass move

Global warming is causing animals and plants to migrate further up mountains and away from the equator to avoid the higher temperatures associated with climate change, scientists have found in an exhaustive survey of nearly 1,400 species.

The rate of movement is on average up to three times faster than previously expected for species migrating towards the poles and about twice as fast for organisms that are migrating further up the sides of mountains, the scientists said.

A major review of the distribution of animals and plants was published in the journal Science. There appears to be unequivocal evidence that climate change is the cause of the mass movement, said Professor Chris Thomas of the University of York.