Polar Bear Genitals Shrinking - POPs Possible Cause - Livescience

[hatrack]

The icecap may not be the only thing shrinking in the Arctic. The genitals of polar bears in east Greenland are apparently dwindling in size due to industrial pollutants. Scientists report this shrinkage could, in the worst case scenario, endanger polar bears there and elsewhere by spoiling their love lives and causing their numbers to peter out.

In fact, all marine mammals could get affected by these pollutants, "especially the Arctic fox, killer whale and pilot whales," wildlife veterinarian and toxicologist Christian Sonne at the National Environmental Research Institute of Denmark in Roskilde told LiveScience. These animals bodies also carry extremely high levels of these contaminants.

Polar bears from northernmost Norway, western Russia and east Greenland are among the most polluted animals in the Arctic, as they feast on ringed seals and bearded seals. The blubber of these seals accumulates high levels of organic pollutants loaded with halogens such as chlorine. These organohalogens can act like hormones. Sonne and his colleagues looked at formaldehyde-preserved genitals from 55 male and 44 female east Greenland polar bears, collected from 1999 to 2002 by about 30 polar bear subsistence hunters regulated by the Greenland government.

EDIT

The adult polar bear testicles the researchers examined were on average roughly three inches across and 1.8 ounces in weight, although they could dramatically enlarge during the height of sexual activity from January to July. Their bacula, or penis bones, were on average nearly seven inches long. The scientists found the higher the level of organohalogens in polar bear, the smaller testicle and baculum size and weight likely were. Ovary size and weight decreased as organohalogen levels rose as well.

EDIT

http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/060823_polar_bears.html

[SteppingRazor]

1. The lead on that article is sooo wrong....

funny, but wrong :evilgrin:

[MADem]

3. This bit is rich: "...causing their numbers to peter out...." NT

[meegbear]

2. I am speechless

[whistle]

4. Anytime the temperature goes below 30F my testicles shrink also

[JoDog]

7. Yes, but

Wouldn't you hate to have the job to gather that info?

[ThomCat]

5. I expect that polar bears will be extinct in a few decades.

x(

[RaleighNCDUer]

6. Not to worry.

They'll go extinct from habitat loss long before this becomes a problem.

[Nihil]

8. Maybe the scientists should warm their hands?

:-)

[YankeyMCC]

9. Polar Bears

are just getting shafted! They seem to be on the leading edge of the global catastrophe we are (have) created.

[htuttle]

10. There is significant shrinkage

I'm talking about the icecaps!

[bloom]

11. This could be seen as a good thing

If animals faced with over-pollution reproduce less - that certainly seems better than animals in adverse situations who start having a lot MORE offspring - which die young or what have you. For instance I can see people doing that (having MORE children when the going gets rough - or whatever.)

It's rather like nature has consequences figured out a lot better than what people do.