As Sea Ice Melts, Walruses Make For Land

Biologists Try To Figure Out How This Will Affect Animal Populations And Feeding Habits

(AP)  Thousands of walruses since late summer have congregated in haulouts on Alaska's northwest shore, a phenomenon likely connected to record low Arctic sea ice.

Joel Garlich-Miller, a walrus expert with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services in Anchorage, said Thursday animals began showing up on shore in late July, a month earlier than usual.

By August, several thousand animals - far more than normal - were bunched up in haulouts in a stretch of coastline from Barrow, America's northernmost community, to Cape Lisburne, about 300 miles to the southwest on the Chukchi Sea, as first reported by The Arctic Sounder.

"It's raising a bunch of conservation issues for us," Garlich-Miller said.

The agency's immediate concern is that groups of walruses congregated on land are susceptible to additional human contact, whether a low-flying airplane or a hunter's boat, that could can panic the group, setting off a deadly stampede to the water.

But having animals concentrated on land instead of the vast expanse of the Arctic ice pack also raises stress issues, said Chad Jay, a U.S. Geological Survey biologist.

Walruses on shore may be forced to swim farther to forage, expending more energy. Researchers would expect increased mortality to calves, Jay said, if they try to stay with their mothers during feeding rather than resting on a platform of sea ice over feeding grounds.

"You can imagine access to traditional foraging areas is diminished," Garlich-Miller said. "That is cause for concern."

The Fish and Wildlife Service has no evidence that the walruses have suffered nutritional stress or disease, said Bruce Woods, an agency spokesman.

The agency has received anecdotal information from hunters that some animals appear thin but not emaciated or endangered, Garlich-Miller said. As has happened in the last few years, the agency has receive reports of orphan calves.

Walruses also have been spotted at Kaktovik 325 miles southeast of Barrow on the Beaufort Sea, far east of their normal range, Garlich-Miller said.

[vrum1]

If the temperaments of animals are different than usual, showing up early where they hibernate, or in new locations, why can''t we mortals accept there is a climate change happening?

Sadly that the world is stuck in their posture of disbelief, and jokes about issues that will be seen differently very soon.

Pray for Peace, and God Bless You.

[gaye5]

au_fait you are so right, and what happened when Iceland was green, and it became ice, humans weren''t there to protect the environment.. What happened when areas which were covered with flourishing vegetation became ice.. what happened when the ice disappeared last time and the time before, or the land became covered in ice.. goodness there must have been a lot of humans around then to cause that eh..or could it possibly been a natural occurrence over the centuries of nature..who says that our temperatures are to be the same world wide, century after century.. all this paraphernalia couldn''t possibly be because there is a lot of money to be made on this one could it???, we don''t need a war for the powers to be to make money now..we have climate change to scare the people with.
What fools they will look when our climates go back to normal, but in the mean time many have made millions of dollars from the people who couldn''t think for themselves and believed a lie..
Yes the climate is changing, it always has done and always will..for goodness sake look back in history where lands which are now covered in ice was once fertile land and the summers were fairly good, or where the land was once ice and are now fertile land, we were taught this in school..valleys were gouged out from the glaciers, and now there is never any ice anywhere in those areas..

[au_fait]

Why is it that everyone cries Global warming, that is only one half of a coin. If you cannot say it correctly you are not intelligent enough to discuss the matter. Global change is what is occuring. Whether humans or nature is to blame is irrevelant. Changes to protect our environment should be responsibly mandated, but not because of a climate change.

[avigil2]

"Some of these walruses have actually made it to America. I just saw some today shopping at the local Wal-Mart. "

Ha, ha. So dang funny. And sadly true.

[incog-nito]

Some of these walruses have actually made it to America. I just saw some today shopping at the local Wal-Mart.

[rushlimpdrug]

Can''t blame:
1. Human effect on Global warming;
2. Human pollution;
3. Industrial pollution

If you do the "right" side will know you are a nut.
Just have to live with it.
If you''re "smart" you will join their crowd and laugh about it ha, ha, ha then repeat the phrase:
"What global warming?"

[ubrew12]

sparks224 said: "I think the Earth is flat."

It''s flat in the sense that what happens in the Artic is no longer ''beyond the horizon'' and out of sight, out of mind. Instead, it''s just down the road and headed our way.

[sevenveils]

No one has tries to associate global warming with the magnetic pole reversal now in progress.

[sparks224]

I think the Earth is flat.
There is no real proof that it''s round.
I think schools should teach both sides of the Earth-shape controversey.

All this science stuff is making me uncomfortable. I%u2019m going back to watching the Fox Noise Channel.