Polar bear cubs die as ice melts, swims get longer

[IDemo]

By Deborah Zabarenko
Reuters
updated 7/18/2011 6:14:29 PM ET


WASHINGTON — Polar bear cubs forced to swim long distances with their mothers as their icy Arctic habitat melts appear to have a higher mortality rate than cubs that didn't have to swim as far, a new study reports.

Polar bears hunt, feed and give birth on ice or on land, and are not naturally aquatic creatures. Previous reports have noted individual animals swimming hundreds of miles to reach ice platforms or land, but this is one of the first to show these swims pose a greater risk to polar bear young.

"Climate change is pulling the sea ice out from under polar bears' feet, forcing some to swim longer distances to find food and habitat," said Geoff York of World Wildlife Fund, a co-author of the study.

York said this was the first time these long swims had been quantitatively measured, filling a gap in the historical background on this iconic Arctic species.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43798896/ns/us_news-environment/

[sakabatou]

1. I fear extinction for this species.

[izquierdista]

4. They will adapt

Some grizzly/polar bear hybrids have been observed, indicating that some are spending more time on land and are picking up grizzly foraging behaviors. The all-white, ice-floe dwelling polar bears may indeed go extinct, but their DNA will survive in a new land based top predator species.

[NickB79]

5. Assuming the grizzly bears survive as well

Wild grizzlies aren't exactly faring too well themselves in most of their range either.

[izquierdista]

6. Someone's got to eat caribou and musk ox

I don't think buzzards get that far north to clean up the carcasses.

[Barrett808]

7. Just another species extinction, ho hum

Nothing to see here.

[Booster]

2. Everytime I see a report on this it just breaks my heart. Short of

throwing wooden rafts all over the place I can't imagine what can be done to help them fast.

[Big Blue Marble]

3. What an awful tragedy for them and for us. N/T