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Subscribe to RSSA recent voyage by the National Geographic Explorer ship to the Arctic captured a female polar bear fighting a male for food. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports on the trip, which allowed experts to evaluate the environmental changes in the Arctic.
Wildlife biologist Ian Bullock is a seasoned visitor to the Arctic, but even he was surprised by what he saw last month: a thin female polar bear, shadowed by her cub, trying to challenge a much bigger, stronger male for food.
It wasn't much of a challenge, but it showed just how desperate she was, Bullock told NBC News on returning from his 10th straight summer cruise to the Arctic.
That desperation, he feels, stems from the fact that the Arctic's summer sea ice — which polar bears using as floating stations from which to hunt seals — has been shrinking over the last few decades due to a warming Arctic, forcing polar bears into smaller areas and more intense competition.
"She was the thinnest female with cub I have ever seen," he said. "She had a single cub which implies she has already lost one other cub this year.
"If she cannot feed, she cannot suckle her cub; with a hungry cub it is even harder for her to hunt effectively, so from what I saw her last cub is at risk and ultimately so is she," he added. "This is why she was challenging a big male with food. She was hungry enough to take a big risk."
In a video filmed during the National Geographic Explorer cruise to the Arctic's Svalbard region, Bullock said it looks like that reduced ice is "really putting the bears under stress."
"The worst thing is when we've encountered bears, we've found them really packed in tight, in the last little areas of fast ice attached to land, or the last little patches of pack ice at sea," said Bullock, who served as a guide on the cruise ship. "And there they've been in competition."
Polar bears are listed as "vulnerable" and in decline by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which estimates the population at no more than 25,000 across the Arctic.
The U.S., which has two Arctic regions where polar bears live, in 2008 listed its population as "threatened".
Last year, researchers cited three incidents where polar bears might even have resorted to cannibalism due to warming and reduced sea ice.
The diminished sea ice also got the attention of the National Geographic Explorer's skipper.
Captain Leif Skog told NBC News that he had e-mailed his boss, Sven Lindblad of Lindblad Expeditions, to describe "a shocking escalation of the reduction of sea ice."
One data graph he monitored daily, showing the total volume of Arctic sea ice, "could be called the death spiral of the Arctic sea ice," he said in his e-mail to Lindblad.
Because of the reduced sea ice, he added, the cruise was able to visit northeast Greenland "a month earlier than what was normal in the past."
"We expected to face some sea ice but everything was gone in the fjords upon our arrival," he added. "The sea water temperature in the fjords was also unbelievably high."
Another expert on the cruise called the outside temperature "surprisingly warm."
"It was T-shirt weather," Paul Berkman, an environmental science professor at the University of California Santa Barbara, told NBC News. Berkman noted two other major Arctic developments over the summer:
- The amount of summer sea ice reached its lowest point in 30 years of records.
- Nearly the entire surface of Greenland's ice cap saw some melting in July, a phenomenon not seen in 150 years of ice records.
Berkman said the polar regions, and the Arctic in particular, show an "amplified response" to a warming climate ahead of other parts of the globe.
That response is twofold, he adds: Arctic temperatures have warmed 3-6 degrees F above the global average, and reduced ice removes huge amounts of reflective white from the sea and reveals a dark sea that absorbs heat.
The sea ice is like "a giant mirror on Earth's surface" he said. "Without summer Arctic sea ice, more heat from the sun is absorbed into the Earth system, which is a feedback that further accelerates warming of our climate."
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- Libya pledges to help US catch American officials' killers
- US won't rule out Islamist link in killing of US ambassador to Libya
- US Ambassador Chris Stevens was 'courageous and exemplary,' Obama says
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- No Obama-Netanyahu meeting as rift over Iran widens
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As horrible as this is, it's nothing new and it's nothing unnatural. Climate is ever-changing. Long term evidence of it comes from warming trends - hundreds of thousands of years ago, much more of our land used to be under water. Climate changed, land shifted, water dried up and the sea life with it. Cooling trends - imagine all the animal life that disappeared during ice ages or glacial ages. Short term evidence comes every season. My neighborhood has very different things growing and living in it than it did when I moved in 20 years ago. Species move right along with the climate, because the climate dictates their living conditions and their food sources.
I really like your comment. Resonable. Personable and intelligent without trying to impress us that you are smart. Thanks. I have noticed different plants growing also. Redbud trees and Mimosa Trees and one other tree in the last 3-4 years and different weeds that none of us are used to.
My dad said that when there are a lot a acorns it means that in the coming year(s) the weather is going to be against the farmer. We have had alot of acorns in my area for the last few years.
AWFUL !!! How sad !!
Look what we are doing to our world !!!! all that because we think we cannot live without oil !
And when all this beauty is gone, when oil is gone, HOW ARE WE GOING TO LIVE AND IN WHAT KIND OF WORLD ?
It is time that human stop fighting each other, time for us to lower our standard of living or terrible things will be waiting for us.
I'll be dead by then.
Well, there is solar and wind and nuclear energy. Please don't worry so much about oil as the ONLY energy source. God is not going to strand us along side the rode . . . He is going to destroy us with fire brimstone. Remember?
If all the oil is gone, what will the Arabs use for wealth? This is a time of testing their character too you know.
I think I may have figured out what to do with pedophiles, murderers, rapists & terrorists, drop them off on a ice flow in Alaska. Its a win win situation, if the polar bears don't get them, the ice is gonna melt and they'll drown!
I think it is up to each of us to make conscientious changes in our lives to lessen our footprints. It isn't political, it's personal. What have you done???
As you set there with your plastic bottle of water, eating your lunch out of a plastic bag, typing on your plastic key broad.
Then jump in your SUV to drive 1/2 mile to pick up the kids.
What have you done?
I am vegan, have no children, recycle, use canvas shopping bags, commute by bicycle when possibe and drive a fuel effecient car. I was eating my organic lunch out of a recycled paper box. My plastic water bottle is a glass where the water comes from a reusable 5 gallon container. I also reduce my electric usage by keeping my water heater off until I need hot water. I don't shop at Walmart or any other mart, I donate all used items. Take that, cow.
What a load of bull$hit.
The female polar bear is definitely starving, is it from climate change, lack of prey, is she old and unable to hunt, in she injured? I do believe we need to take care of our environment, but one starving polar bear is not proof that the polar bear is going extinct. You want to protect the environment, stop buying cheep products from foreign countries who could careless about the environment, recycle products that leave a smaller carbon foot print when recycled the when processed new, give up on corn based ethanol and find a more efficient way to make alternative fuel.
As for the starving bears I know where there are about 10,000 to many Sea lions that would fill the menu quite well, just drop them about 2 miles apart along the ice and everyone is happy. A population explosion, because of man, that we need to control, you have to keep everything in balance. Between the money that PETA and the HSUS have plenty of money to give to help feed the bears.
@ bluunicorn. The reason they are starving is because liberals like you decided to ban hunting them. Which increased there population to the point that they ATE ALL THE SEALS!!! Now they are going hungry. Way to interfere libtard. The only reason you want to sve them is because they are cute. & the only reason they are starving is because man decided it knew better & messed with issues we know NOTHING about.
I know an idiot when I see one becuase they know everything about everything and make up "science" as proof. Unless you can prove it over & over ...its not science... its a theory.
Wise Pati.. I totally agree with you... Our poor wildlife, my heart breaks for them ! they are the innocents and have no way to defend themselves or their habitats. It is terrible the world we live in.
And yes, it is too late, I am afraid.
We need to wake up and throw out all republican religious nut cases OUT !
Poor wildlife. If they were supposed to survive God wouldn't have made them taste so good, especially with BBQ sauce.
...uh...yeah...right...
...and in the mean time, 1.2 billion people in China & 900 million people in India continue to spew out more pollution in one year then America has put out in the last five.
Religous nut cases? Must have us mixed up with Islamists in Libya and Egypt that just stormed our embassies.
I guess its time to ban cars and human. Because volcano's don't account for any of the carbon in the atmosphere. Even though, recent eruptions have spewed out more than humans have for the last...you know, since humans were around.
This is far from the truth. From the U.S. Geological Survey:
http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hazards/gas/index.php
Maybe they're thinner, because Mayor Bloomberg stopped super-sizing their fast food meals!
lol
Shameless . . . but really really funny
I've be around a while. In the 1960's when I was training to be a left wing nut, it was 'The Next Ice Age Is Coming',Then as we evolved from Hippy to White Panther to Socialist to Democrat to Progressives,'Save The Whale', 'Save The Seal',Don't Eat Fish','Don't Eat Meat'. Don't Eat Grapes', 'Don't Eat Bacon' 'We Will All Starve Do To Overpopulation','Support The Union Coal Miner' [ how did that one...anyway], 'Save The Trees', Save The Rain Forrest. 'Save The Tuna' 'Patch The Ozone Hole','Get Rid Of R-12 Refrigerant', on and on and on. Two constants; It's always MY fault and if I only payed MORE taxes..............
Yeah i know those days and the population wasnt as big...lol
To be honest, I never really cared about the whales.
While there is evidence that the Earth is going through a warming trend over the last 10,000 years (when the last Ice Age ended), there are still questions as to how much this warming can be attributed to human activity.
...What I don't understand is the millions of people who believe that human activities (and the over abundance of the human species) are totally & completely at fault for global warming.
I mean, if they really cared, then they would sacrifice themselves & self-terminate to improve the overall condition of the planet. Right?
Wow, another polar bear going extint story! Is it really news to some of you liberal fools that some bears will struggle and even die in the wild? This story is so full of anecodotal information as to be irrelevant. Some guy says it is warm and is wearing a short sleeve shirt. Another guy looks around a little and concludes the ice is disappearing. Real objective. Actually the number of polar bears has been increasing significantly in recent decades. Ten or twenty years from now, liberals will be worrying about seals because there are too many polar bears. Bunch of idiots...
What a sham, I watched two beavers fighting over wood..Caused by global warming...haha
...that's nothing, I saw two fighting over shoes...
ROFL Good one!
Nice.. YOU ARE WRONG ! They are starving because they no longer find food because of melting ice !!! They were doing very well before they were hunted and they had plenty of food when there was plenty of ice !! Bears are now found drowned because of the lack of ice !
EDUCATE YOURSELF, YOU are the problem, IGNORANCE IS THE EVIL IN THIS WORLD !!
How does a bear drown in a lack of Ice? ROFL Bears are smarter than you..Dont believe me ask Yogi..
moronic
barock, you are right. Some summers ago, I visited a polar bear park in Scandinavia. I learned that the polar bear in the wild NEEDS a think ice cap. Its whole existence depends on the ice - mating habits, off springs, food habits, hunting habits, etc.
There are so many Republican trolls on this board, that are here just to crack down on the NEED for a clean environment. Remember, GOP wants to CUT environmental laws, so Big Corporations and Big Money don't have to be responsible and can pocket the profits instead of paying for cleaner energy.
Decibella
You were told they needed.Just like you were told the sky is blue.But does it make it so?
I can't tell you how many documentaries I have seen where polar bears take off swimming to a destination they are used to going, only to find there is no longer ice there and drown. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt with actual cases. Continue arguing about how you feel this works.
barock1957
Ignorance is not evil. But you may be. Will a polar bear be able to take care of you when you are old? You need other people to help you survive, you don't need polar bears . . . they can't help you. You need to respect people more . . .
TFNJ
It is true, I have seen film inserts of dead polar bears floating miles away from where there is an ice float for them to rest. And they are to far out to swim back to land or the ice from which they came. And they die from exhaustion. I can't help but wonder why they don't know how to just float until they are a little rested and the continue on until they need to rest again.
Stop feeling sorry for these animals. They live in the wilderness and the rule is: only the strong survive.
If you really need to express your soft side, volunteer to help abused children. They need you.
The some reasoning you have there Andy. You would I prefer I volunteer to help in a situation that humans created, in place of a situation that happened due to no fault of the animal. We need less humans my man. I say that in case you really wanted to know what I think. What next, help crack infested ho's instead of polar bears too? If you feel that sounds cold, you were the one that brought it up. If you aren't ready for cold hard facts, don't bring it up. This is about Polar Bears, and their survival. Human problems are another issue, and not related.
Here's a little 5th grade science for you folks. The climate is changing (duh), and if that change happens to be warming (as it seems to be at this time) then this will melt the ice that is in the pole regions of the world. Now once that ice melts it will turn back into it's liquid form (Water) and will cause more condensation, which in turn will cause more clouds, which in turn will cause more snow and rain, which in turn will cause more ice, which in turn will will cool the earth down. The final answer to this little riddle is this+++++++ "Cycles" The earth has been changing in and out for millions of years figure it out.
Before you were even thought of..The Whole world was warmed at one time..Did man cause the Ice Age? ROFL.. Its so funny I still can see NYC and the Ocean has not risen..
That was exactly my point. The earth's climate will change with or without us.
Fueler . . . billions and billions of years
And paragus - the Whole world was not just warmed at one time - it was boiling hot hot hot then frozen solid then warmed then frozen then warmed then frozen then warmed then frozen . . . like Fueler said "Cycles".
There is so much information, that not even the experts can keep up with all of it.
I have read where they are telling us that the oceans will rise and cover over x amount of shoreline. But, I have also read that the experts got a big surprise from all the ice melting from Greenland. The land actually sprang back up from being compressed by the weight of ice.
I am sure you all have seen that documentary piece done about the penquins who have to walk 30 or 50 or 100 miles to the ocean for food while leaving the father and egg. Then returning so that the father can make the walk. I would like to see the ice melt so that these poor creatures don't have to live like that any longer.
They have been making this long long distance walk since it was a short distance walk. The ice cap(?) size increased due to cooler climate temperatures. And these darling creatures will not hunt you down and eat you alive.
Of course it couldn't be caused by the radiation that was pumped into the ocean from Japan, killing their food source? Hair falling out and burns; probably from some new never seen bacteria attacking polar bears, seals, fish, whales, etc. Right?
The world is polluted by Big Money not wanting to take responsibility for it and this board is polluted by the naysayers to global warming.
For a clean environment and clean renewable energy - Obama/Biden 2012
I rather listen to the needs of polar bears than to the comments of GOP's " super expert" Palin.
Gas is 4 dollars a gallon, our soldiers are getting killed in the middle east,Chicago needs a fence built around it to keep all the animals IN...and people are worried about the ice and hungry polar bears??
GlOBAL WARMING SHOULD BE CHANGED TO CLIMAT CHANGE ! global warming is the wrong term this is why right wingers do not understand how it work !
WE are responsable for it !!! Never the climat has changed SO FAST ! The planet has lost its capacity to clean up OUR air pollution ! Acid rain is killing corals all over the world, the seas can no longer absorbe so much pollution !
right wingers idiots, EDUCATE YOUR SELF ! Your are a bunch of ignorant morons !
NObody in europe denies that it is man made !
How do you know that the climate has never changed this fast. Were you here 100,000 years ago. Come on, back in the 70's we were all gonna freeze to death and now we're all gonna burn. You people on the left have no literal thought process. It's all done on feelings!
Sounds like you should move to Europe then with all tthe other socialist morons...good riddance!
What complete nonsense. google an incovenient truth and the english courts and see what the English have to say about global warming. Stop these bullsh*t generalizations about the world.
barock, you are right, but there is no way you can convince paid Republican trolls - I recognize their screen names from political boards (some created this year - just for the elections). They come on to boards in a big flock to influence other posters. Just keep repeating your facts - other people will find your post helpful and caring.
BTW, they constantly come up with false information and comments like, "idiot" "move to Europe" "socialist" etc
Barock
The only thing i see changing is the dollars in my wallet..Soon i will only see moths flying out...Dont you worry God will burn the Earth it dont matter if you are on it or not...:P
par, ok now I understand that you have given up - let God burn us all because moths fly out of my wallet....why are you even on this board if there is nothing to do about our situation? Common. You are spreading your beliefs: the "'gummiment' is out to get you" and "socialists" and "Muslims" are the causes to the moths flying out of your wallet....and pollution & Romney is good for the economy...do I need to say more?
How do you know the climate has never before changed so fast?
The climate did change fast enough to kill all the dinosaurs. That was like almost instantly. I don't know if this story is true or not but, they found a wooly mamouth and it still had a flower with all her peddles in tact in its mouth. That is pretty quick climate change.
"There is no such thing as Global Warming"..... Mitt Romney
Under a Romney Administration we would see this type of desperation occur here in the USA with the "Under-Class" citizens (the 95%) fighting to stay alive and feed their children.
Under the GOP we will not see trickle down economics as much as we will see Trickle-down Ice Water from the Arctic Ice. Global Warming will increase and the Polar Bear population may exist only in Oil and Gas-Cooled Zoo Cages and Habitats. It will be interesting to see how they market the right-to-hunt and kill the remainder of the Wild Population to their NRA Hunting Buddies. "No Quarter given Lads" will be the battle cry.
jon, Thank You for speaking the truth
I think the American people will see though the falseness of GOP/Romney/Ryan
Sound like to me you have the bad case of Politic-itis...You believe what the piped piper tells you...You better and go get your brain back from them before you have nothing left..
paragus, you must have spread it from some of your other boards you posted on - are you sure YOU got your brain back?
As-paragus has stated, I have Politic-itis. The campaign this year has become a sickening mess due to the Pie-In-The-Sky, Grab-the-Birdie Rhetoric of the Romney-Ryan Republican Revival that it is turning so many of us into vegetables (at least those who believe it would be ok to elect them) similar to Asparagus.
Climate change has cycled since the beginning of climate. Present day deserts were once seas and oceans. The earth has been warming up and drying out for a very very very long time. I have read that our planet is at the end of an ice age. Isn't it possible that the "polar" bear is an adaption of the grizzly or brown bear to the artic freezing centuries ago after they were more or less trapped there by increased freezing tempertures.
In the flim clip I viewed. The male was eating the seal as the mama and cub approaches him. The male polar bear races toward them and at the point where he reaches the mama bear, he stands on his hind legs with his back to the camera. And that is the still shot that we see. Does anyone else see this?
If this is the only flim clip, then I have to say that it is the male bear's back we are looking at that is so "bone thin" not the female's back. She is very thin too. The cub seems ok for whenever this film was made.
Andy, is it MORE believable that our crazy reaping of huge amounts and rapid burning of fossil fuels is the main cause to the sudden climate change? Also, the matters found in our ice caps are DIFFERENT this time around, which tells us that THIS climate change is mostly coming from MAN MADE greenhouse effect.
So . . . now it is sudden climate change . . . oh . . . that DOES make it different. Could you explain the MAN MADE greenhouse effect to me? Is this what has speeded up climate change?
Have you switched over to solar or wind?
What is believable is that we are faced with multiple problems and even though the language and phrasing and spelling and attitude in these comments can be unacceptable at times, I really appreciate that you reponded.
Climate change is real . . . man's contribution is still up for debate. Particules trapped in the polar ice cap do not exclude man's contribution to climate warming, but they do not prove man's contribution to climate warming either. I believe that was a statement made during the documentary to which you are referring. There are so many, it is difficult to always put the right information with the right documentary.
When you apply emotion to any subject matter that holds no emotion of its own, then, people tend to look at the emotions you are projecting and trust the subject matter less.
If you want your reader to take you seriously, never use the phrase crazy reaping . . . its just creepy. If you are going to use a comparative like: DIFFERENT this time around, then you also need to provide the information that allows your reader to actually see the difference in this time around. That way your reader will know that you are actually providing them with factual information and not just sensationalizing for effect.
I hope this helps you.
It would be nice if we could figure out how much of this is due to humans (and please, let's not pretend that we don't have a hand in it. ) The arguement that extreme climate change is "normal" for the planet is moot as long we humans keep making the same mistakes over and over again.
Very very sad to see this..... :(
Is there anyway to get them food to help them survive.
We can send Greenpeace let the bears eat those knuckleheads.
What a dope. Green peace is around to help such species survive. idiots like you are a dime a dozen
The problem isn't lack of food. The problem is lack of ice. They hunt on the ice. Until they learn to hunt on land, they will continue tom starve. On some areas of the Canadian coast they are learning and the population in those areas is increasing.
sorry CORRECTION: TOO LAZY to learn to hunt on shore
It seems the right thing to do on first glance, but they eat seals, so should we go out and kill seals to feed the polar bears? I think the backlash of doing that would be pretty alarming. Lack of ice is the main contributor - it's not that there are no seals to eat, it's that the seals are not on the edges of the icepack where the bears hunt.
Well along with Greenpeace we can send the liberals, man the bears would be so happy.
This is the problem with the climate change debate. All you hear is clear lies and distortion, I don't know what causes these people to do this, but those that can think and reason see that the truth is sadly lacking.
I don't give a flip what the climate is doing as I can not change it. I will be like my ancestors and adapt.
The problem in the discussion is not if the world is getting colder or warmer, it is the proposed solution. The only solution is to cut back on our economy, use carbon tax and have the UN govern us. That will not happen. These instruments will do nothing for the environment or climate, but will make us less free and wealthy. I am like the mama bear, I will fight to keep mine.