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Climate change could see elephants’ ears grow larger as animals ‘shape-shift’ to survive, study suggestsDecades of monitoring how animals are adapting to global warming has shown that, with a third of species possibly facing extinction, many are changing their breeding and migration patterns to avoid the new levels of heat and, in some cases, shrinking to better regulate their body temperatures.In a phenomenon known as Allen’s Rule, animals in warmer climates tend to have larger appendages – such as ears, beaks, legs and tails – which they can use to dissipate heat.While appendages often have fewer feathers or less fur than other parts of birds’ and animals’ bodies, they also have other advantages. For example, elephants can pump warm blood to their ears, which are filled with blood vessels, and flap them to disperse the heat. The larger the appendage, the more heat can be lost.In new research, scientists report finding “widespread evidence” of changes in appendage size in response to global warming – “from the Arctic to tropical regions of Australia”.