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Jessica Robertson / USGS
Sea ice is critical habiat for polar bears, which use it as platforms from which to hunt seals.
Adult male polar bears preying on cubs and even females has long been observed, but recent sightings off Norway suggest that cannibalism may happen more often as warming temperatures reduce Arctic sea ice, a leading polar bear scientist says in a new report.
The conclusion is based on images and observations made of three separate cannibalism incidents in summer and early fall while the adult polar bears were on sea ice, which polar bears use as platforms to hunt seals.
Most previous cannibalism observations have involved polar bears on the shoreline and later in the year.
"The three observations we describe are different from most other reports of infanticide and cannibalism in polar bears because they took place between midsummer and early autumn, while some bears of all age and sex classes were still actively using the remaining sea ice as a platform from which to hunt," wrote Ian Stirling, a polar bear expert with Canada's environmental agency, and Jenny E. Ross, a photographer who captured images of an incident on July 21, 2010.
Dec. 10, 2009: Tourists visiting Churchill, Canada, were shocked to see an adult polar bear eating a cub. CBC's Mychaylo Prystupa reports wildlife experts say bear cannibalism is becoming more common due to changes in the food supply.
Because few earlier observations of polar bears on summer sea ice have been made, such cannibalism "may be relatively normal and possibly occurs more frequently than has previously been thought," the authors wrote in the study published in the December issue of the peer-reviewed journal Arctic.
"However, as the climate continues to warm and sea ice continues to break up and melt at earlier dates, thus making seals less available earlier in the summer, the frequency of intraspecific predation and cannibalism may increase," they added. "Similarly, as more ships go farther into the disintegrating ice to view and photograph polar bears, it is likely that similar instances of intraspecific predation and cannibalism on the sea ice will be reported more frequently."
Arctic 'not cooling as well as it used to'
Arctic sea ice follows a natural cycle of growing in winter and shrinking in summer, but in the last decade the shrinkage has spread.
Last September, "sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean fell to the second-lowest extent in the satellite record, which began in 1979," the National Snow and Ice Data Center reported last October.
Read more content from msnbc.com and NBC News:
Leave a Comment:
Maybe we can feed them republicans. On second thought, that might not work. The taste would be so awful the polar bears would probably spit it out even if they were starving!
give them barny,blago,and edwards
that otta cool thier appetites
I'm pretty sure they all taste the same to polar bears. It helps put things in perspective.
Did you think of that all by yourself?
I'd be happy to feed them both parties. Congress along with the current and former Presidents have been nothing short of disastrous.
My thoughts exactly.
LOL
it's sad to see every post on msn turn into politics immediately. i guess most of the posters' "knowledge" on this site is about the very little politics they think they know, and about nothing else. that's why they always talk about politics first and not on the story...
but anyways, species come and species go. that's the cycle of life... you have to find food somewhere, that's nature.
also, "recent sightings off Norway suggest that cannibalism may happen more often as warming temperatures reduce Arctic sea ice, a leading polar bear scientist says in a new report.
The conclusion is based on images and observations made of three separate cannibalism incidents in summer and early fall while the adult polar bears were on sea ice..."
3 cases? that doesn't seem like enough to draw any sort of conclusion on, even from a leading polar bear scientist.
No Panda, it's because I got first post in and I get a kick out of the "that's off topic" whiners, so I run down republicans on non-political stories every chance I get! I even got banned by Sally for a couple days for straying off topic. My bad...
You are an genius! I guess your a member of the enlightened party? Save it!
We could feed them both Democrats and Republicans, since the Dems are just as full of SH*T as the GOP.
Matt, the gop is particularly toxic sh*t!
ANY time an Adult Male Polar bear sees a young one - it will kill it - it has nothing to do with the bears being hungry - you are being played! Either the kids are having very bad luck right now or the population has been increasing - figure it out!
I've heard it all now, Polar Bears are hungrier because of "global warming." That explains my weight gain. Thank you idiots, I can sleep better tonight because I now have the answer.
"3 cases? that doesn't seem like enough to draw any sort of conclusion on, even from a leading polar bear scientist".
That's all it takes for the warming whackos to cite it as "proof" of global warming.
This republican carries a big f'n gun and is smarter than the bear.
Now we have couch scientists specializing is polar bears and climate change?
Well its obvious with their head so full of knowledge they can only conclude denial of both.
Its the bears fault, and climate change isn't really happening, thus it has nothing to do with humans?
Rocket scientists.
I thought cannibalism was a human condition, I guess republibums will argue that..
Environmentalist tell you what they want you to believe. their making a living at this. the ice has been melting for 11,500 years and will return as it has in the past. then you can worry. Just remember when the ice comes back it comes back real fast.
Well then soon enough it will be a human condition and then republibums will argue that..
Hard to respond to any of this. Just a shame this has to happen.
We can do better before we need to clone them to remember.
All the signs are pointing to a new ice age. this is the end of a era and the beginning of another Ice age according to samples of Co2 levels taken from core samples, Co2 reaches present levels each time there is a Ice age, its complex and I'm not writing a book on it do your own research. the evidence is there, new Ice age on the way. it will be plenty cold for the polar bear. you I'm not so sure about, it might get a little to cold.
I don't know how unusual cannibalism is concerning Polar Bears, probably not as rare as we might think. Science was surprised to learn dolphins sometimes attack and eat their own. The entire Planet of the Apes franchise fed into the wrong belief that only man is violent and kills for sport. The world can be a tough place. We should be more concerned that Canadians still bludgeon baby seals- that is something we can do something about.
D Buck-2239568
Faux Noise tells you what they want you to believe.
Environmentalists only print reports for digestion at your leisure.
D Buck-2239568
The only evidence we have is,..... its man made.
Ice core samples only conclude that what were doing is causing global weather change.
No where in any core samples does it show the CO2 level accelerates on its own.
"Polar bears aren't real" - GOP
A leading psychologist, who has studied blogging over the past year has determined that major inbreeding has led to d0uchebags like Leroy Brown to purchase computers and resort to blogging as a sole source of stimulation. This could have consequences for future generations of Leroys
From bottom of article
Isn't that kind of like, falling temperatures are rising? Or, aging people are getting younger?
With the population of polar bears on the rise, it would seem logical that they fight for territory and the winning polar bear might think, "Hey, I'm hungry and there happens to be another bear that I killed lying right there. I think I'll eat him."
It may be that the polar bears demise comes as a result of their inability to adapt to a changing environment. You might say that when it comes to an ecosystem they can survive in, they are hopelessly polarized. Maybe humans who are hopelessly politically polarized, like leroy brown, will not drag humans into extinction.
Can't people learn to stay on topic with out always bringing politics into this!
With a steady increase of population since the early 80's, which in turn the native food supply deminished, bears kill other bears for food if have to. They also eat the remains of other dead bears.
Thus we can expect the homosexuals very soon to demand their "right" to kill and eat other human beings. After all, it's "relatively normal" in other species.
If you think I'm being sarcastic, think again.
There is nothing whatsoever in all the philosophies of natural science from which our modern society could have developed.
Without spiritual inspiration and divine revelation we would be nothing more than savage animals. There would be neither law nor forgiveness.
These things did NOT evolve. Neither did Language.
"IN THE BEGINNING was the Word, and the word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God."
To paraphrase this in "scientific" terms: In the beginning was the Reference, and the Reference was with the Referent, and the Reference was the Referent. The Sameness of the Reference and Referent was in the beginning with the Reference and the Referent. (Synonyms for "Sameness" that shed light on its meaning as I use it here are "Identity" and "Unity".)
Outside of a conscious mind no separate thing can exist. (To "exist," whether "exist" is referent or reference, requires all three: the Reference, the Referent, and the Identity. To postulate a referent absent a reference is patent nonsense.)
Without language, even the Big Bang is excluded from all possibility.
Possibility itself is excluded.
(Or if it is otherwise, then make your case without resorting to words).
Off your meds today eh?
John, I get your post that people collapsed. You are correct; there is a right and a wrong. I always thought of the Big Bang theory as a possibility - "Let there be light...and there was light!"
Extra dose of koolaid today i see ...
da bears...
God bless America "I always thought of the Big Bang theory as a possibility - "Let there be light...and there was light!" "
That didn't require the Big Bang. Having our Sun simply 'Turn On' (become a star when nuclear fusion starts) would be enough.
John,
Recorded history has shown development in human understanding of the world around them. Did gravity not exist before there was a word for it? That is the wonderful thing about the human mind... it's ability to learn and evolve. I to thought that evolution was a dirty word for the longest time, but as I got older I've found that the answers I received as a child don't always make sense.
Is it possible that leaders in the church could be wrong about evolution? They cried heresy when scientists suggested that the earth was round... that sun was the center of our solar system instead of the earth... that we could possibly begin to understand how the world works around us instead of blindly ignoring it. Just because science is right about certain things doesn't mean that there is no higher being. Science does not disprove the existence of God, it only changes the way that we understand him.
I have yet to hear an argument that has led me to discontinue my belief in a higher power than myself... but I have heard many arguments that have changed the way I've interpreted the things I learned as a child. Knowledge is not evil... in fact, if you are a Christian, God tells you to search for it.
It has been going on since the beginning of time. It is not just relegated to Polar bears. Grizzley's also will kill cubs if they can. This is nothing new. As for RealAmericanValues, just another idiot liberal with no knowledge of the planets cycle, but thinks he has all the answers.
There are more people looking at the polar bears than ever in history. So you would expect them to find more cannibalism (a nature event).
They will find more of other behaviors as well, but those won't make the news because they can't link it to their liberal agenda.
The mainstream media is anti-industry. Surely you have noticed that of all the things that are claimed to impact climate, they focus on our industries and use of their products.
Meanwhile, they focus little on the biggest contributors -deforestation and overpopulation.
Is that just a coincidence?
Or isn't the most likely answer that these are the same people that oppossed industry on the grounds of "pollution" in the 1970's (when the climatologists were warning us of Global Cooling)? That as industry technologies improved and old facilities were retired pollution went down and they lost their means of attack on industry - they had to find a new attack.
That attack was Global Warming.
One little problem, industry isn't the biggest contributor.
So they just ignore that fact and continue the attack.
I hate to break it to you, but religious right and wrong DID evolve from natural laws and taboos. In most cultures sons do not mate with their mothers not because Christianity says its wrong, but because they learned that the results were not so desirable. It took Christian Europes monarchies to institutionalize it.
Theft, murder, adultery, cannabalism were all naturally prohibited in early cultures by evolution as cultures, tribes or ingroups realized that engaging in such practices were counter to the good and well being of the group. They were just institutionalized by religions after the fact. Its only the well defined and established and sophisticated cultures that can accept violations of these natural taboos. If and when cannabalism occurs in human groups as an accepted practice it is only acceptable to eat enemies or people from out side your ingroup.
Polar bears are an anachronism. As the global climate changes naturally, they will either adapt or die. I shouldn't have to remind you that the earth's climate has been warmer probably within the Polar Bear's species existence, and they are still here. If it were not for the transferrence of andropomorphic characteristics onto animals by Hollywood and the Beer Industry, making Polar Bears big teddy bears and blurring the realization that they are one of the few predators aside from the Great White who sees humans a legitimate prey, no one would give a rats ass if they died out.
This post collapsing is patently RIDICULOUS. I've seen some posts collapsed that were completly innocent and innocuous. Honestly, it's like the MSNBC blog world HATES free speech. They actually allow posts to be edited out on the whims of posters who just don't like a certain point of view. "Collapsed by the community??" Gimme as break. Hey Sally,et al, can the "community" collapse YOUR posts too and if not, why not?
Ryan Texas: "One little problem, industry isn't the biggest contributor."
Yes, Ryan, it really is. Deforestation is estimated to be responsble for about 20% of the change in CO2, and that issue has in fact received somewhat more attention and success in international negotiations than industry emissions, so you are wrong to claim that "nobody ever talks about it".
Human population size is part of the equation, of course, but the mechanism of their impact is through industrial emissions. And it is possible to reduce industrial emissions without reducing population size, although the latter would of course help as well.
Could convicted sex offenders be relocated to the Arctic? Possibly cut down on recidivism and cannibalism.
You'd have to start with the Catholic Church.
Nasty creatures
This is one article I can't find something humorous to say...very sad indeed.
Actually, the article is hilarious. It now appears that the loony left has taken "science" to a new low. First, there is the noted observation of a total of 3 incidences. There is the admission of few observations period. From all this mountain of evidence they conclude that global warming might be turning polar bears into cannibals. The basis for the conclusion? The few previous observed observations of cannibalism by polar bears were observed near land.
The real scientific conclusion should be that 3 incidents of polar bear cannibalism were observed on floating water. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Reading the comments here it appears that way too many people don't have brains and will believe anything they are told, at least if it is about how bad humans are and how bad the US is.
what would you do for a Klondike Bar...
witch-runner
Whats real funny is pseudo opinions devoid of any real facts.
Can you print some more please?
Chris, if you want more pseudo opinons and lies, just listen to both parties including Obama, Reid, Pelosi, Boehner, McConnell and the rest. Their plates are full of it so wake up and go hug a polar bear.
Don't worry, there's always a reichwing nutjob with a 5th grade education around to fill the void. Just read some of the responses to your post. Hopefully these idiots will be the first to get whacked with an EF5 or experience the thrill of wading to their submerged home in the next year or two. Or maybe they'd like to move to Houston where they just lost 60 million trees due to exceptional drought. There may even be a few having to eat their horses before it's all said and done since there won't be enough hay or water to keep them alive. We'll see who gets the last laugh soon enough.
Scientist also observed citizen's in the Houston area eating horses, which they blame on global warming! As a matter of fact, frk'n global warming caused my divorce, flat tire, and psyaticha....man/bear/pig
Ray - Best post of the day. A global warmest can correlate anything to Global Warming.
The Fact that we have more Polar Bears now then anytime is history, is also caused by Global Warming I guess?
I recently listened to a scientific "expert" on a telelvision show that basically said that too many people corellate global warming or cliimate changes to weather patterns and they are NOT necessarilly related.
Global warming does not equal drought given that there are extreme opposites in different loctions on the map that in most cases are only 1,000 to 2,000 miles apart. Not so much when viewed in the vastness of the globe. Weather patterns are cyclical.
@chris, a little FYI for ya...@witchrunner was stating facts from the story. Let me show you...
Because few earlier observations of polar bears on summer sea ice have been made, such cannibalism "may be relatively normal and possibly occurs more frequently than has previously been thought," the authors wrote in the study published in the December issue of the peer-reviewed journal Arctic.
"However, as the climate continues to warm and sea ice continues to break up and melt at earlier dates, thus making seals less available earlier in the summer, the frequency of intraspecific predation and cannibalism may increase," they added. "Similarly, as more ships go farther into the disintegrating ice to view and photograph polar bears, it is likely that similar instances of intraspecific predation and cannibalism on the sea ice will be reported more frequently."
Italics & bold were added by me to hopefully draw your attention
Reading comprehension is subjective to the reader, apparently. I agree with @witchrunner, there is absolutely no scientific basis for thinking there is any type of increase in polar bear cannibalism. This is a fluff piece to get sheep like you to bleat.
...bleat
just sayin'
Ok. So bleat. Tell me why I'm wrong. Tell me why 3 observed intances of something that has been known for centuries mean an increase due to anything. Please. Tell me how that justifies anything.
Tad-401841
We all know its the educated VS the uneducated and they are taking care of business?
Seems that the NO is winning for now, until the next election.
Then we can go back to a snail pace, but at least forward, and not back into poverty and slavery.
I think you guys are missing the point. They are not claiming that the cannibalism proves global warming. We already know global warming is happening, and it is suggested that it may increase the rate of cannibalism.
Every educated person knows Global Weather Change is real, and the cannibalization is Just one of the effects of it, thanks to us causing the weather change.
On the other side we do have colorful stories of denial.
Educated where? By whom?
Yes the planet is getting warmer. Yes we are causing things to happen. But do not, for one second, tell me that these bears are doing this solely due to the planet getting warmer. They've been doing it for centuries.
Chris: Thanks for introducing new terminology. "Global Weather Change"! If you read the posts of the people posting, then you will understand that everyone understands the weather changes. As they say in here in Iowa, if you don't like the weather here, wait an hour and it will change. The real discussion is regarding the nuts who, after millions of years, have decided that 30 years of living has produced solid scientific evidence that man is changing the world unlike it has ever been changed before. Keep in mind that these are the same people who declared in the 1960s and 1970s that the solid scientific evidence was that man was creating global cooling. Considering that not one prediction has come true in the last 30 years that the global warming alarmists have made, it really is no wonder why skeptical people remain skeptical. Case in point: The Maldive Islands were predicted to be underwater by now as a result of the global warming causing the oceans to rise. To date, there has been no evidence of their disappearance or that the surrounding water levels are any different than they were 30 years ago. But, I guess some people do believe that the fires started by our ancient relatives in the stone age were responsible for the the many cycles of earth that went in and out of the "ice age." Heck, the fact that there were previous thaws must prove that man existed long before the time that we currently have evidence that man existed, since he is the one that causes the climate to change.
We have the same here, if you don’t like the weather wait five minutes. However denying the changes in the Global Weather, or pretending you are a couch climatologist who can read the reports, is for the denier.
Not a single Governmental Organization including the DOD, nor any Scientific Agency disagrees that Global Weather Change it here, its real, and its man made.
But that doesn't stop people from importing sand by the ton.
That's what I love about this thing called life, everyone is free to believe what they want. Even in the most totalitarian societies no one can tell another what to believe, just prevent them from speaking their minds for fear of retribution. As such, you are free to believe what you will regarding the weather. For my part, I'm still waiting for scientific proof that man has anything to do with it or that any such climate change is bad.
As for governmental agencies, I don't worry about that too much. They have a vested interest in propagating the myth. It gives them an excuse to exercise power over the people and control their lives. All one has to do is look at what is going on now to see the truth in that. Thousands of people have been put out of work and become more dependent on the government just because the government is exercising the the power in the name of the environment.
The irony is that the more the environment wackos push and the governments go along with it the worst the environment gets. The fact is that poor nations cannot afford the luxury of cleaning up the environment. Right now people want jobs and a strong economy. The government is doing nothing to bring that about. So it is not a stretch to say that the more the environmentalists win, the more they lose. Right now people want drilling, cheaper fuel prices and a good job.
Oh, and you might want to do some research. Your claim about no "scientific agency" disagreeing with the left is just not true. Of course, there really is no such thing as a "scientific agency." If it is part of the government it is political. Those who are part of such agencies get the boot if they do not play along with the prevailing political winds.
As for you reference to "sand," you are using to unrelated matters. Like the current administration's use of the terminology "jobs created or saved," rising water and soil erosion are completely different. The fact is that the administration has had to use the term "saved" since they no that it is a completely fabricated concept. Jobs are created or lost. Saying a job is saved is just a completely made up stat with no basis in real fact. Adding sand to counteract that natural occurrence of erosion is not the same as stopping the waters from rising. As I posted earlier, the Maldives are in no more danger than they were 30 years ago. But, the predictions by the global warming crowd put them under water by now. It just hasn't happened.
At least you gave it the ol' college try.
Yep, we nurture a nation full of ignorant people who think they are smart or think that anecdotes are scientific, or my favorite, couch potato experts who actually spread BS.
Its easier to be ignorant than to get the actual education, but if you do, you know the difference between the opinion and a scientific report.
Whats that saying...opinions are like butt holes, every one has at least one.
As for you reference to "sand," you are using to unrelated matters...depends how deep you place your head in it before you try to formulate your opinion.
Chris, it sure is easier for one to claim they are more intelligent than another when the argument based on faith.
There is no way to prove that Man isn't changing the weather, but at the same time there is NO WAY to prove we are.
Everything that is happening now HAS happened in the past.
As long as you are on the Warming bandwagon, you can never be wrong. It is definately a Type-A movement.
My one argument for global waring being a man-made hoax is easy, and still unrefuted. If its such a big deal, and Al Gore, who invented The Iternmets, is heading up this big "green" push, why does Mr. Gore live in a amsion? Why does he travel by private jet? Why is he chauffered in luxury? "Going Green" is a profit generator for those selling the "Green" products. Big Al gets a cut folks.
@Chris, u said "As for you reference to "sand," you are using to unrelated matters...depends how deep you place your head in it before you try to formulate your opinion." We may have our heads buried in the sand from time to time. We all do it. You, on the other hand, are getting it shoveled on you by others and you have no idea its even happening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKAC4kfHruQ
Typical half-truths by al gore and friends.
smilynn-3451424
Typical half-truths by faux noise and friends
smilynn, you are half right. Chris, you are half right.
But in the case of the hopelessly politically polarized, two halves don't make a whole, they make a O (hole), like a black hole that destroys everything it sucks in.
They both suck but one lives on pure lies to control their sheep, the other prays on their fear.
it is what it is
Global Warming now causes cannibalism!
Better recycle quick or they're coming to get you too!
MSNBC has sunk to a patheticly sad low...
what else are they going to eat without ice to hunt from?
use your brain and answer the question
DT, I am sorry you have an obvious lack of comprehension skills, but it is quite obvious why they suggest this is happening.
Let's just hope you're pretending to be ignorant just so you can bash this site.
They are basing this ridiculous premise on THREE observations.... So because they might have only observed two last year, I am to believe that polar bear cannibalism has increased 50%? Why don't you people stop being sheep and start seeing these stupid articles for what they are. Politically motivated propoganda.
Because they have an agenda to promote. You couldn't be more right. What kind of serious science uses 3 "could be" observations to prove anything? What a bunch of clowns and people like your 2 "genius" critics.
Maybe there's more to it and the food source is also eating itself up. I think the brain trust missed an opportunity there.
The article also says that cannbilism has long been known to occur in the polar bear population.
This is animal evolving to face harsh environments, it creates more suitable species, like man.
AHAHAH. Too bad they didnt make it in the new global economy.
Sooooooo what happened to the seals then? Did they just fall of the face of the ice?
The Antarctic sea ice extent has been at or near record extent in the past few summers and the ice is expanding, the Arctic hasrebounded in recent years since the low point in 2007, polar bears are thriving, sea level is not showing acceleration and isactually dropping, Cholera and Malaria are failing to follow global warming predictions, Mount Kilimanjaro melt fears are being made a mockery by gains in snow cover, global temperatures have been holding steady for a decade or more and many scientists are predicting global cooling is ahead, deaths due to extreme weather are radically declining, global tropical cyclone activity is near historic lows, the frequency of major U.S. hurricanes has declined, the oceans are missing their predicted heat content, big tornados have dramatically declined since the 1970s, droughts are not historically unusual nor caused by mankind, there is no evidence we are currently having unusual weather, scandals continue to rock the climate fear movement, the UN IPCC has been exposed as being a hotbed of environmental activists, former Vice President Al Gore is now under siege by his fellow global warming activists for attempting to link every bad weather event to man-made global warming and scientists from around the world continue to dissent from man-made climate fears at a rapid pace.
so now I am going to ignore the scientific community who live out there every day and listen to "oi812"; thanks for your expertise;
Where are the headlines? Where are the press releases? Where is all the attention?
The ice melt across during the Antarctic summer (October-January) of 2008-2009 was the lowest ever recorded in the satellite history.
Such was the finding reported last week by Marco Tedesco and Andrew Monaghan in the journal Geophysical Research Letters:
you are reading the press release;
New England has recorded the warmest November ever;
wake up and use your own brain rather than being a ditto-head;
shallowred doesn't want to believe the science, would rather be a lap dog to the supposed experts.
Its a tug of war between the whits and the witless in the long run Nature will decide the outcome, and you wont like it ether way. Bears do eat Bears that's just nature. these observations are just that observations, no bases for declaring anything. cant handle a little change you don't belong here. Earth is constantly changing, its just that some people have found a way to profit from it, yes they make lots of money scaring the crap out of you. look at Gore hes getting richer every day and still has the biggest smile on his face, all the way to the bank. why isnt he scared.
oi812...just for the sake of argument, let's say man's actions are not contributing to global warming. Are you not aware that the earth has been in a warming cycle since the end of the last ice age well over 10,000 years ago? It has been warming all on it's own with no influence by man. Within that overall warming trend, there are minor cycles of warming and cooling, but the overall trend is one of warming.
So whether you believe man is influencing global warming or not, the earth is warming. And the consequences can be quite severe if we sit around and do nothing.
Alternatively, we could do like the Italians. Right across the bay from Pompeii is Mt. Vesuvius, the volcano that buried the entire area in volcanic ash more than once. And what is on the very foot of Mt. Vesuvius, even closer than Pompeii? Naples, Italy. Population 1.4 million. Silly humans.
hs321:
I'm not saying that I don't believe man has any influence on our environment, but if the Earth is on a natural warming trend, doing it all on its own, as your previous sentence stated, what are we supposed to do to stop it?
Move north.
Male predators will also kill off competition for food, not just so that females will only have their cubs. I imagine that soon females will start to have only 1 cub at a time. That's how nature works to protect species. So I'm not sure if I'd call it a "true" cannibalism, more like survival mode.
This is more global warming crap flotsam! These libtard socialists are trying to dream up excuses to support a false assumption. There is no manmade warming happening. The warming is controlled by the sun and temperature increase has been registered on other planets and bodys of the solar system. Man has not effected the warming there so do the coorelation. The socialists are scheming to get us under control worldwide by scare tactics and use of the so called carbon credits to control!
idiot;
the sun provides the heat and CO2 traps it
You are the idiot if you buy into this bull@!$%# manmade global warming! The facts are there to see if you look into it. You are too lazy to research and think for yourself! This is about political control not warming, warming is just an excuse!
The average global temp. for the last 12 years has been flat while the amount of CO2 has increased. Seems like something other than CO2 is driving the temp. AGW would be easier to believe if the world was still warming-those silly computer models are not working-time to rethink the theory
what kind of idiots are you conservatives?
where is your conservativeness?
where is your sense of responsibility?
"dump as much junk into the oceans and atmosphere as you want! - it won't hurt nothin"
you make no sense
shallowred-CO2 is plant food, it is natural, it is not poison
and we are adding to the natural production of CO2 in concentrated fashion by digging up massive amounts that have been buried for millions of years;
'A blockbuster Chinese study of Tibetan tree rings by Lui et al 2011 shows, with detail, that the modern era is a dog-standard normal climate when compared to the last 2,500 years. The temperature, the rate of change — it's all been seen before. Nothing about the current period is 'abnormal', indeed the current warming period in Tibet can be produced through calculation of cycles'
shallowred- of the entire atmosphere 2% is greenhouse gas-of that 3.4% is CO2-of that 3.6% is man caused-of that the US contributes 16% -not a very big number
It's not really true that temperatures have been "flat" for 12 years. There was a big air temperature spike (about 0.2 deg C) in 1998 due to El Nino, after which temperatures dropped and climbed back up, setting a new global record in 2005 and 2010, according to NOAA data. Also, about 20% of the natural greenhouse effect is due to CO2; I don't know where your 3.4% number came from. The man-caused portion is what throws the natural carbon cycle out of balance.
shallowred-
I don't believe in global warming, because I researched the history of the earth. But your comment about conservatives not practicing conservatism is an assumption that we just throw everything wherever we please. I guess you know each and everyone of us. I recycle and conserve, I just believe the earth is going through one of it's natural cycles. Nothing stays the same, especially in nature, it's constantly in flux.
Climategate scientists DID collude with government officials to hide research that didn't fit their apocalyptic global warming
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2066240/Second-leak-climate-emails-Political-giants-weigh-bias-scientists-bowing-financial-pressure-sponsors.html#ixzz1fzuWGBVB
oi812
Anecdotes r uS.
Thank god real scientist don't use them as any sort reality.
However, Couch potatoes cant live with out them.
This is a sign of things to come. Once eight billion people are starving across the globe, humans may be resorting to this as well. Like rats in a cage.....
Satan, when that time comes, I'm going after polar bears. I'm not sure how hmans taste, but bear meat is pretty good.
Soylent Green
i love polar bears - so sad to learn that they're turning against each other for food :-( immediate attention is needed on global warming in order to protect this species.
Yeah, the polar bears would love you too. Mmmmm, tasty.
Bears eat each other. Grizzlies do it, black bears do it. The males kill off the smaller bears that are competition for food. The vagueness of this article (three observed incidents?) doesn't show if it's happening more often or if it's business as usual for the bears.
i love polar bears not in that light ok - they are disappearing, save them before they're all gone.
No warming signal found in study of frozen ground changes over past ~ 20 years
A paper published today in Environmental Research Letters examines a 71 year history of seasonally frozen ground changes in Eurasia. The paper finds freeze depths decreased (indicative of warming) between the late 1960's to early 1990's, but that "from that point forward, likely through at least 2008, no change is evident." The paper finds the observed changes linked to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), a natural climate cycle, rather than the uncorrelated steady rise in 'greenhouse gases.'
Environmental Research Letters Volume 6 Number 4
Oliver W Frauenfeld and Tingjun Zhang 2011 Environ. Res. Lett. 6 044024 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/6/4/04402
4
An observational 71-year history of seasonally frozen ground changes in the Eurasian high latitudes
Oliver W Frauenfeld1 and Tingjun Zhang2,3
do you work for an oil company?
do you know that oil companies and whole countries are claiming sections of the sea floor beneath the ice so that when it melts they can drill more?
they know as much as anyone what is happening
Do not work for oil company but do not buy into AGW since the global has not warmed for the last 12 years and we were warmer during the Medieval Warm Period than we are now.
I'm not aware of any temperature reconstructions that show the Medieval Warm Period as warmer than we are now. If there is any such credible data, then you should ask the author of the Wikipedia article to include it in the graph.
If there is any such credible data, then you should ask the author of the Wikipedia article to include it in the graph.
Hate to tell you this but if you are relying on Wikipedia for hard emprical fact, your credibility in this debate has been shot to hell.
Shallowed, Do you drive, ride a bus, consume products delivered by plane, train or truck? Do you have electricity? Do you use anything packaged in plastic? Is your home made of wood? etc., etc., etc.
Don't be a hypodrite. All of these things are made from or affliated with oil and/or natural gas. Maybe you should be concerned over coal fired plants?
oi812
No warming signal found in study of frozen ground changes over past ~ 20 years
Tripe, lies. and faux noise.
Some people live for it, its their Wheaties of the day.
Not a single governmental organization or scientific agency says Global Weather Change isn’t caused by man.
But the world is full of deniers and Couch Climatologists telling you how it really is.
The Wikipedia article has references to the actual published research. Do you have any references to contrary findings?
EricH-3359508
The Wikipedia article has references to the actual published research. Do you have any references to contrary findings?
Not a single Governmental Organization including the DOD, nor any Scientific Agency disagrees that Global Weather Change it here, its real, and its man made.
As to being a couch climatologist, reading a scientific report and interpreting it for others, yeah right?
Complain about global warming all you want. The US economy is being greened into non existence by the liberals and global warming, when if you had been looking at the news, China, is the biggest problem. They recently admitted that they actually have smog not fog. China is causing a brown cloud from Israel to Japan. So complain and mess with all the liberal regulations you want to tax the american economy with. We are not throwing massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the air. China is putting 10 times as much. Manufacturing countries pollute, and the US is no longer a manufacturing country. China has taken our place.
China only surpassed U.S. carbon emissions a couple years ago, so the "10 times" figure is obviously wrong. They still emit about 4 times less greenhouse gases per person than we do.
But look at their big picture, the chinese, and the rest of Asia also dump massive amounts of heavy metals, organic compounds, and plain old dirt into the air and water. That material needs to be addressed.
AND, they have been since the early 70's. Mercury and lead anyone?
Maybe baby polar bear meat is really really tasty?
Put all polar bears in a zoo and feed them Wendy's triple stacks and IHOP root'n toot'n fresh'n fruity pancake stacks....
No, they would get the runs and die if dehydration. Then Peta would be up in arms again!!
Times up. Everyone put every penny you earn or are given by benevolent taxpayers into the "Stop Global Warming" fund. The USA is guilty of destroying the ozone and everything precious in our world and we ALL pay pay for the error of our ways. Or, this is all garbage science, with more holes in the "theories" than a teenagers socks.
I thought you climate denier dinosaurs went extinct a long time ago. But i do like your humerous antics. I hope your starving great grandchildren inherit your easy and laughing personalities too. Cannabalism isnt just for polar bears you know.
Actually, only a few dumb Americans believe in global warming. The rest of the world is sane and can see con-men a mile a way.
Global warming is so 2003. Keep up with the facts. Its been disproven
rdonham: Please post the facts you are talking about. I see not truth anywhere where it has been dis-proven.
Actually, almost all the rest of the world accepts the science of global warming, although there is still political and economic resistance to reducing carbon emissions in some places including China.
Call PETA, maybe they will Outlaw the cannibalism by male bears and have them arrested, fined and locked up....
Then some well meaning Californian can go throw red paint on them. I know, Lady Googoo should wear her meat dress up there!!! That will kill two birds with one stone, so to speak!!
This is a bunch of crap. Polar bears eat when they are hungry. If opportunity wanders past or is a short distance away, guess what? Yep, time to eat. Seal, other polar bear and yes, even man.
Stop trying to blame everything on global warming. Whether it is occurring or not.
Lions kill cubs to drive the females into Estrous. I can see the same happening here with bears.
Lions only kill cubs due to global warming. They are under stress. There is no more ice on the vast seas of the Alaskfrican Savanna for lions to hunt the Oceanic Gazzeldabeast. Soon the Gazzeldabeast will go the way of the Northern Auktopottomas and the Narwhelephant. All hunted for meat and ivory as well as trophy. And soon we will "sea" the demise of the Congoleutian peoples, the Alaskfrican Kodiak Leopard and the Giraffabou.
Sad times are ahead for all of these species...
London, 8 December. A new report, published today by the Global Warming Policy Foundation, reveals that the BBC has failed in its professional duty to report accurately and objectively on the issue of climate change, one of the biggest scientific and political stories of our time.
Written by Christopher Booker, one of the UK's most seasoned journalists, the report critically reviews the BBC’s coverage of climate change issues against its statutory obligation to report ‘with due accuracy and impartiality’.
His report, The BBC and Climate Change: A Triple Betrayal, shows that the BBC has not only failed in its professional duty to report fully and accurately: it has betrayed its own principles, in three respects:
"Above all, the BBC has been guilty of abusing the trust of its audience, and of all those compelled to pay for it. On one of the most important and far-reaching issues of our time, its coverage has been so tendentious that it has given its viewers a picture not just misleading but at times even fraudulent," Christopher Booker said.
In the foreword to the GWPF report, Sir Antony Jay writes:
"The costs to Britain of trying to combat global warming are horrifying, and the BBC’s role in promoting the alarmist cause is, quite simply, shameful."
The full report is available here
The BBC is irrelevant here. Its the scientists that are relevant. In a hundred years, polar bears wont be the only cannabalizers. Tell your great great grandchildren to watch their backs.
The idea that CO2, a trace essential gas in the atmosphere that humans exhale from their mouth, is the main climate driver is now being challenged by peer-reviewed studies, data and scientists from around the globe. It is not simply, the sun or CO2 when looking at global temperatures, it is the Sun, volcanoes, tilt of the Earth's axis, water vapor, methane, clouds, ocean cycles, plate tectonics, albedo, atmospheric dust, Atmospheric Circulation, cosmic rays, particulates like Carbon Soot, forests and land use, etc. Climate change is governed by hundreds of factors, or variables, not just CO2.
Professor Emeritus of Biogeography Philip Stott of the University of London explained the crux of the entire global warming debate when he rebutted the notion that CO2 is the main climate driver.
“As I have said, over and over again, the fundamental point has always been this: climate change is governed by hundreds of factors, or variables, and the very idea that we can manage climate change predictably by understanding and manipulating at the margins one politically-selected factor (CO2), is as misguided as it gets,” Stott wrote.
Even the global warming activists at RealClimate.org admitted to this key climate reality in a September 20, 2008 article. “The actual temperature rise is an emergent property resulting from interactions among hundreds of factors,” RealClimate.org explained.
The global warming movement continues to lose scientists, many formerly with the UN IPCC. See: More Than 1000 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims - Challenge UN IPCC & Gore
The future does not look bright for global warming activists as more scandals continue to rock the movement. See: Climate Depot's Exclusive Round Up of Climategate 2.0 – Read about the most comprehensive report on the latest global warming scandal – Even warmists are lamenting that Climate 2.o may be 'devastating': 'These [emails] sound worse than I thought at first – their impact will be devastating'
MIT climate scientist Dr. Richard Lindzen has observed that “Ordinary people see through man-made climate fears -- but educated people are very vulnerable.”
Yes, co2 is produced by many natural processes. It's also absorbed by other natural processes. What isn't in dispute is that the huge quantity being produced by mans unnatural activities has exceeded the amount that natural processes can absorb. co2 levels have steadily been rising for not only decades, but at an ever quickening pace that is directly related to growing production of it. You can argue about the ultimate consequences all day, but the measurable data such as the amount of co2 in the atmosphere, and it's rising concentrations, as well as the acidifying of sea waters from absorbtion of more co2 are things that can't be disputed.
It's like the argument creationist use to deny science,
"Scientist can't explain every last detail, so they don't really know anything!"
No, they don't know every last detail or variable in the scheme of things. But they do know some things exceedingly well, and have spent a lot of time verifying them, even if some other factors may still be more speculation at this point. Whatever you want to believe, one thing is clear, mans activities are adding to co2 concentrations in the atmosphere past the point for natural processes to compensate for.
Yes, there are other variables, but it's been known since the 1950s that the climate sensitivity to doubling CO2 is about 3 deg C, and could be more since some of the other variables are feedbacks. For example, water vapor will increase simply because warmer air can hold more moisture. The warming due to CO2 will be superimposed on top of other effects, which is why it doesn't get warmer every year. But the positive correlation between CO2 and global temperature is very high (about 0.9 or 90%) for the past 35 years.