Missouri版 - (zz)A victim of climate change? Polar bear found starved to death looked 'like a rug' |
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M****7
发帖数: 13407 | 1 By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News
The polar bear’s emaciated body looked more like “a rug” than one of the
world’s most powerful predators.
For all its hunting prowess, the giant animal appears to have starved to
death as it made a desperate journey north on the Arctic island of Svalbard
in search of seals.
Experts fear polar bears will increasingly suffer a similar fate as global
warming melts the sea ice that allows them to hunt for their main source of
food.
Ian Stirling, who has studied polar bears for nearly 40 years, told The
Guardian newspaper that he found the animal on Svalbard in July.
“From his lying position in death the bear appears to simply have starved
and died where he dropped,” Stirling said. “He had no external suggestion
of any remaining fat, having been reduced to little more than skin and bone.”
The bear was examined by Norwegian scientists in April about 150 miles south
and seemed to be healthy at that time.
“Most of the fjords and inter-island channels in Svalbard did not freeze
normally last winter and so many potential areas known to that bear for
hunting seals in spring do not appear to have been as productive as in a
normal winter,” said Stirling, of conservation group Polar Bears
International. “As a result the bear likely went looking for food in
another area but appears to have been unsuccessful.”
A study published in July found that the Arctic could be essentially free of
sea ice in September as early as 2054.
Polar Bears International says on its website that the bears evolved for a
life on sea ice, "which they rely on for reaching their seal prey." The loss
of sea ice has meant an increase in drownings and cannibalism, and a
general decline in population.
Ashley Cooper, the photographer who took the picture, said the sight of the
dead polar bear was “desperately sad.”
“There was just no fat on it. It was just completely shrunken and shriveled
, a very, very skinny specimen of a polar bear,” he said in a telephone
interview. “It looked basically like a rug because there was just no weight
on it at all.”
Cooper said scavengers had not eaten parts of the body and there were no
signs of decomposition, which happens slowly in the low temperatures of the
Arctic.
He said he saw five live polar bears during a 12-day trip to Svalbard in
July. Three looked “quite thin and not in great condition” and the only
one that looked healthy was hunting on sea ice barely strong enough to
support its weight about 550 miles from the North Pole.
Cooper said the fate of the bear was “what [all] polar bears have got to
look forward to over the next 10 to 20 years.”
“There isn’t a future for them unless we can very rapidly get on top of
climate change,” he said.
Jeff Flocken, at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, told The
Guardian it was difficult to blame climate change for a single death.
But he added “it couldn't be clearer that drastic and long-term changes in
their Arctic habitat threaten the survival of the polar bear.”
“The threat of habitat loss from climate change, exacerbated by
unsustainable killing for commercial trade in Canada, could lead to the
demise of one of the world's most iconic animals, and this would be a true
tragedy.” | M****7
发帖数: 13407 | 2
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【在 M****7 的大作中提到】
: By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News
: The polar bear’s emaciated body looked more like “a rug” than one of the
: world’s most powerful predators.
: For all its hunting prowess, the giant animal appears to have starved to
: death as it made a desperate journey north on the Arctic island of Svalbard
: in search of seals.
: Experts fear polar bears will increasingly suffer a similar fate as global
: warming melts the sea ice that allows them to hunt for their main source of
: food.
: Ian Stirling, who has studied polar bears for nearly 40 years, told The
| M****7
发帖数: 13407 | | M****7
发帖数: 13407 | 4 动物那么可爱，不懂为啥人类为了钱要把他们给杀了，竟下得了手，无语！ |
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