Study: Global Warming Will Kill Hudson Bay Polar Bears Within 25 Years

[tex-wyo-dem]

Study: Global Warming Will Kill Hudson Bay Polar Bears Within 25 Years

Tiffany Kaiser - July 15, 2010 4:57 PM

Years of low sea ice conditions has put their lives in jeopardy


Biologists have studied and observed polar bears in Canada's western Hudson Bay for years. Important data has come from this research, such as how long the polar bears spend on the shores of Hudson Bay annually and how much of a decline of ice there is in the bay. Now, researchers have answered the question regarding how long the polar bears have before global warming ends their existence.

Biologist Andrew E. Derocher of the University of Alberta, along with Dr. Peter K. Molnar and other colleagues, have found that the polar bear population in western Hudson Bay could die out in approximately 25 to 30 years.

Derocher and his colleagues came to this conclusion after discovering some other startling data. The polar bears in this area have been losing more than 20 pounds per decade, their body mass has been declining, females have lost 10 percent of their body length, they've been forced to spend an extra week per decade onshore, and the overall population has decreased from 1,200 to 900 in three decades. Most of the population drop occurred over this past decade. In addition, mating habits have changed under recent climatic conditions which could hinder the survival of the polar bears.

"We developed a model for the mating ecology of polar bears," said Molnar. "The model estimates how many females in a population will be able to find a mate during the mating season, and thus get impregnated."

<continued: http://www.dailytech.com/Study+Global+Warming+Will+Kill+Hudson+Bay+Polar+Bears+Within+25+Years/article19041.htm>

[MountainLaurel]

1. Just horrific

:cry:

[defendandprotect]

2. As sad as this is, I think 25 years is optimistic . . .

Who would have predicted so much death in the Gulf in January of this year?

Capitalism is about as reckless a system of exploitation of nature as you can find --

it's suicidal -- and as long as we are living in its wake, life is very dangerous, indeed!!


However, I truly also think that scientists continue to be alarmed and shocked at the pace

of Global Warming -- and I think they will continue to be!!