India, April 26 -- Divorce rates appear to be rising, in the wild.

The factors may sound familiar: house-hunting disputes, long-distance-relationship hurdles, rising stress levels, and the good old "You're a bad parent" fight. Behind it all, the homewrecker really intensifying conflict is climate change.

Amid rising temperatures, degrading habitats and intensifying food scarcities, animals that typically mate for life are finding themselves compelled to leave their partner.

On Australia's Phillip Island, for instance, fertility rates are down, and separation rates within the world's largest colony of penguins are shooting up.

In the Falkland Islands, albatross pairs, once a symbol of lifelong commitment, are finding themselves torn ap...