Starving Polar Bears Turning to Cannibalism
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 09.25.08
Where Did My Ice Go?
Summer's over, and arctic researchers have another bad report from up North: The Arctic sea ice dwindled to its second lowest level. We are still losing ice at a rate of 10% per decade, quite an increase from 5 years ago. We are still heading toward an ice cover that is going to melt completely in the summertime in the Arctic.
Cannibals
It is so bad that some polar bears are even resorting to cannibalism.
"[Polar bears] are dependent on the Arctic sea ice for all of their essential behaviors, and as the ice melts and global warming transforms the Arctic, polar bears are starving, drowning, even resorting to cannibalism because they don't have access to their usual food sources," said Kassie Siegel, staff attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity.
Scientists have noticed increasing reports of starving Arctic polar bears attacking and feeding on one another in recent years. In one documented 2004 incident in northern Alaska, a male bear broke into a female's den and killed her.
How Much Ice Are We Talking About?
Less than three decades ago, there would be 7 million square kilometers (2.5 million square miles) of ice at the end of the summer. That's down about 40%.
Walt Meier, a research scientist with the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado: "Seven million square kilometers roughly corresponds to an area of the lower 48 United States. So back in the early 1980s, the lower 48 states would be covered in sea ice in the summer. Now we've essentially lost sea ice east of the Mississippi River and even beyond. So that's a significant amount of area."
Feedback Loop
Via CNN:
Arctic ice helps regulate and temper the climate in many other parts of the world. The less ice there is, the more dramatic the impact. Huge sheets of ice reflect solar radiation, keeping our planet cool. When that ice melts, huge expanses of darker, open ocean water absorb the heat instead, warming things up.
Via CNN
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that's horrible!
Sarah Palin doesn't believe humankind is responsible for global warming. I had a professor in college in the 1970's who described then precisely what we would be and are now experiencing in terms of the almost universally accepted "greenhouse gas" model. Please vote.
My concern is that by the time Palin's arguments have melted away, so will have the Arctic ice.
I love Treehugger and i usually find the writing to be factual and well-researched, but this article is irresponsible. Bears eat each other all the time. Grizzlies eat cubs. Polar bears attack anything weak or sick. This is not "cannibalism," this is animal survival behavior that has been going on for thousands of years and has NOTHING to do with global warming.
Al Gore also explained the feedback loop in his film, Inconvenient Truth. Ice reflects most of the sunlight that hits it. Water absorbs most of it. So when water forms on the ice, it actually serves to melt the ice even more quickly.
Regardless of whether the climate change we are seeing is a result of humanity, it's hard to argue as Palin does that the polar bear is not an endangered species. By literal standards, the polar bear is certainly in danger. I think the sheer size and majesty of the polar bear would make it the most tragic species we've ever driven to extinction. That's arguable though.
"This is not "cannibalism," this is animal survival behavior that has been going on for thousands of years and has NOTHING to do with global warming."
While it does happen to a certain extend even in the best conditions, habitat destruction that leads to starvation will exacerbate the problem to a high degree, no doubt about that.
There are evolutive reasons against cannibalism, in good part to avoid killing off potential mates or offsprings.
This has been the coldest year of the century so far. Bears "need" ice? They are not cold-blooded. Use some sense of logic and intelligence instead of blindly accepting this kind of so-called scientific "evidence".
Animal fur can change with the seasons. Wait until you find out the polar bear is a white grizzly. ;^)
And watch those bears sunbathing on the Alaska pipeline. Cute pictures.
"This has been the coldest year of the century so far. "
No.
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs/Fig.A.lrg.gif
"Bears "need" ice? They are not cold-blooded. Use some sense of logic and intelligence instead of blindly accepting this kind of so-called scientific "evidence".""
How about *you* think about it for a second. Under the Arctic is the Arctic sea. Without the ice, the polar bears have no place to live.
AdamMackWright is exactly right. Cannibalism has always existed amongst bears. Male polar bears will eat polar bear cubs, particulalry the sick or weak ones. Having seen this in a documentary as a teen, the image is burned into my memory... Horrifying, but something that has always been true. There are so many truths to be presented to the world regarding the consequences of global warming and melting sea ice that we don't need to present things that can be refuted so easily. Allowing for one statement on the subject to be refuted the nay-sayers feel justified in disputing any other claims, true or not. Preach truth!
Anonymous, I hate to break it to you but your information is incorrect in this context. Notice he declared "this century", which would include year 2001 onward. Try this graph instead:
http://icecap.us/images/uploads/ALL_SINCE_2002.jpg
Also note that polar bears are vicious creatures. They rip live animals to shreds and eat them. just like almost every carnivore. Many bears have been known to be cannibalistic. They are not the cute and cuddly creatures portrayed by the media. You will also notice the quote only mentioned one incident of a single recorded case where a male bear killed a female, not cannibalism.
Try this quote:
"We documented one instance of an adult male grizzly bear preying upon a black bear and four instances where circumstantial evidence suggested that grizzly bears (two cubs-of-the-year, one yearling female that was injured, and one adult male) had been preyed upon by conspecifics. We also examined feces of grizzly bears for bear remains. Remains of bears tended to be more common in spring feces and did not differ in frequency between early and late years of the study. Our observations generally support existing hypotheses concerning cannibalism among bears"
Bears? They kill things? and EAT them? I just thought they stole people's picnic baskets and drank coke!
@ Tim H
"AdamMackWright is exactly right."? Exactly? Because you saw polar bear cubs being eaten in a documentary? The example the article presents is a male polar bear eating a female. Do bears do that all the time? Do polar bears do that all the time? The quote also says "increasing reports of starving Arctic polar bears attacking and feeding on one another in recent years". You see the words "increasing reports"? Has cannibalism always existed increasingly among polar bears? (Hint: it can't have)
When you feel a sudden urge to criticize an article you read, please read it through again carefully and with thought. Especially when we are annoyed, we easily set aside rational thinking - unless we watch ourselves. I don't know, if the information given in the article is correct, but it's easy to see that the information you (and AdamMackWright) gave doesn't contradict it.
P.S. In zoology "cannibalism" means "one individual of a species consuming all or part of another individual of the same species as food" (Wikipedia).
If you care about polar bears there are numerous sites where you can take direction action to help them out. Either through letter writing, donations, or just helping raise awareness. Search Google or visit PolarBearsRock.com where there is a comprehensive action list.