Nature - Whales From Separate Alaska & Greenland Populations Mingling In Opening Arctic Basin

[hatrack]

The melting Arctic is allowing previously separated whale populations to interact, satellite tracking data has shown.

The Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific has garnered increasing attention as climate change leads to record retreats of sea ice. Shipping goods through this shorter route between Asia and Europe could save millions. It appears that whales have also seized on the possibilities.

Previously, a grey whale sighted off Israel and Spain has been suggested as evidence of mixing between the Pacific and Atlantic. Now a team working in the Arctic have actually observed population overlaps via this sea route. Mads Peter Heide-Jørgensen, of the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources in Nuuk, and his colleagues put satellite tags on two whales in 2010 (tag attachment pictured).

One of these whales came from the Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort population off Alaska and the other from the Baffin Bay-Davis Strait population near eastern Canada. In September 2010, the whales crossed paths in Parry Channel in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and for more than two weeks in that month they were within two days' swimming of each other.

EDIT

http://blogs.nature.com/news/2011/09/_satellites_show_whales_wander_1.html

[TheMadMonk]

1. Not quite mingling yet. But certainly "touching noses".

And really is this such a bad thing given the inevitability of the circumstances?

Segregationist behaviour for us homo saps is bad is it not?

So why is rehomogenisation of closely related species (Atlantic and Pacific Greys) such a terrible thing? The individual populations living to either flank of North America are smaller than ideal, combined their population is far more sustainable.

After all it was the formation of ice which lead to the separation in the first place.

[msongs]

2. should be good for their gene pool nt

[Name removed]

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