Academia, Animals, Environment, Science

Scientists Find 35,000 Walrus Stranded In Alaska Due To Receding Ice Flows

Walrus_alaska

This extraordinary picture from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has many scientists worried as the latest sign of climate change. These are estimated 35,000 pacific walrus ashore on a beach in north-west Alaska. As mammals, walrus cannot swim indefinitely so they use their tusks to “haul out,” or pull themselves onto an ice floe or rocks. However, the loss of sea ice has left them effectively stranded.

220px-Noaa-walrus22The photo was taken five miles north of Point Lay, an Inupiat Eskimo village 300 miles southwest of Barrow and 700 miles northwest of Anchorage. It was taken on September 27th as researchers traced walrus. Female walrus give birth on sea ice and use ice as a diving platform to reach snails, clams and worms on the shallow continental shelf.

As temperatures warm in summer, the edge of the sea ice recedes north. Females and their offspring ride the edge of the sea ice into the Chukchi Sea. However, sea ice has receded now beyond shallow continental shelf waters and into Arctic Ocean water. The problem is that depths at that location exceeds two miles — a depth that walrus cannot dive to the bottom.

The World Wildlife Fund’s head of Arctic programs Margaret Williams says that the gathering show extreme environmental changes occurring wit the loss of sea ice. The comparison is with the plight of polar bears in the changing Arctic.

Source: Independent

153 thoughts on “Scientists Find 35,000 Walrus Stranded In Alaska Due To Receding Ice Flows”

  1. I would not describe the walrus plural on the shoreline as “stranded” just because there is no ice and snow. We need a walrus interview or two.

  2. Bunny
    Irrigation and farming…

    Yes Max. We have already discussed this in great detail in the previous thread that I referenced. A man made disaster by diverting the water. One of many that were cited.

  3. Darren, You are the BEST weekend blogger ever, As always, thanks. I owe you many adult beverages.

  8. Annie
    I’ve been told that if humans can hold theirs for another two decades, it could offset cows… S/

  9. Paul C
    Why is it the scientists that are assumed to be the “conspiracy theorists” when they’re delivering the facts. Watch the Katherine Heyhoe video I put up here. It’s more than a video ad for her book. She might be from Canada but in many Southern parts of this Nation, she’d identify herself as a Christian Conservative. And eve she will tell ya that you’ve been sold a bill of goods that, in real life, wouldn’t even garner a quarter at a swap meet.

  13. Annie

    Dredd, whaaaaat?! Did all the world’s cows run to one end of our flat earth and create the wobble, whilst passing gas? 😉
    =========================
    LOL.

    The Flatulence party emerges.

    1. Elaine – the sleazy work the IPCC has done in compiling its work needs little undermining.

  16. It’s interesting to see who the climate change deniers trot out as reliable sources/authoritative experts on climate change. The Forbes article that calypsofacto linked to was written by James Taylor who works for the Heartland Institute–which pushes climate change skepticism. Taylor is a lawyer–not a climate scientist

    Heartland Institute Climate Change Denier James Taylor PWND on TV
    http://www.prwatch.org/news/2014/05/12485/heartland-institute-climate-change-denier-james-taylor-pwnd-tv

    Excerpt;
    SHOWTIME’s Years of Living Dangerously series recently aired a segment featuring James Taylor, a lawyer who has been paid to confuse the public over the reality of climate change, its causes, and its impact on humanity. The Heartland Institute, where James Taylor works, is know for alienating its corporate supporters by comparing people like you and me–assuming you recognize the reality of climate change–to the Unabomber, Charles Manson, and Osama bin Laden. – See more at: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2014/05/12485/heartland-institute-climate-change-denier-james-taylor-pwnd-tv#sthash.treecxoW.dpuf

  17. These haulouts of Walruses have been noted since 1640 (during the little ice age). They are common during the non mating season on ice free rocky beaches and very often number in the 10s of thousands. This is one more natural occurrence that is being attributed to Global Warming. By the way, the Walrus population is currently more than double what it was in the 1950s. Polar Bear populations are also on the rise. Walruses killed in stampedes during these haulouts are usually consumed by polar bears, which is the natural order of things.

  18. Dredd, whaaaaat?! Did all the world’s cows run to one end of our flat earth and create the wobble, whilst passing gas? 😉

  19. They find a bunch of new species every year. I’m sure that’s reassuring to elephants, tigers, snow leopards, pandas, orangutans, gorillas, turtles, rhinos and sharks.

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