Andrew Wetzler's Blog
As goes polar bears, so goes walruses?
October 8, 2007
Posted by Andrew Wetzler
A lot has been written here at Switchboard about the plight of the polar bear in the face of ever-receding sea ice, but the truth is that it's hardly just polar bears that are effected. The entire Arctic ecosystem is being radically transformed by climate change and, whether it's dragonflies and robins showing up in places they've never been seen before or pink salmon and pollock appearing in the northern Bearing sea, the consequences of mankind's chemistry experiment on the earth's atmosphere is becoming more and more apparent.
The most recent example is the walrus, another beloved icon of the North. Today's AP reports that thousands of walruses are no longer staying on the Arctic ice pack, which has now receded too far out in the ocean for them to feed, and are instead are choosing to haul out on the shores of northwest Alaska and the northeast coast of Russia.
This is a dramatic shift of these animals normal behavior, and no one knows what its long-term effects might be, but odds are it won't be good.
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- Andrew Wetzler
- Director, Endangered Species Project
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