Sea Ice Retreat Dooms Baby Walruses - Mothers Can't Feed Near Nurseries - ADN

[hatrack]

Biologist Carin Ashjian is not a walrus researcher, but she knew something was wrong as she stood on the deck of the Coast Guard icebreaker Healy off Alaska's northern coast. Conducting studies in the Beaufort Sea, Ashjian and other scientists moved from station to station sampling seawater and plankton. At seven locations, they spotted walrus calves, without their mothers, swimming near the ship in deep water.

Walrus calves are dependent on their mothers for at least 18 months. Under normal circumstances, calves are fiercely protected by walrus cows. The cows leave calves on sea ice to dive to the ocean floor for clams and other invertebrates. But Arctic temperatures in late summer 2004 were so warm, the edge of the ice sheet moved north beyond the relatively shallow continental shelf to water too deep for walrus cows to dive. Ashjian and other scientists concluded that the nursing mothers were forced to abandon their calves to feed themselves. "We were on a station for 24 hours, and the calves would be swimming around us crying. We couldn't rescue them," said Ashjian, a biologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.



While changes in the ice sheet have been widely reported, and alarm bells have sounded for the predator at the top of the sea ice food chain, the polar bear, warming's affects are potentially just as catastrophic for pinnipeds -- seals, walruses and sea lions.

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Federal agencies already are addressing falling numbers of other pinnipeds in the North Pacific. The National Marine Fisheries Service reported Feb. 2 that America's northern fur seal pup population continued a marked decline that started in 1998. The western stock of Steller sea lions, covering Southcentral and Western Alaska, dropped 80 percent from 1975 to 2002. But no one knows whether walrus numbers are down. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service attempted its first major count in years last summer with Russian biologists using satellite and infrared information. They expect to come up with a number by the end of the year but current population numbers are "highly speculative," said Joel Garlich-Miller, an agency walrus biologist.

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http://www.adn.com/front/story/8669708p-8563123c.html

[kestrel91316]

1. Good! Fewer walruses means more fish for us humans!!!!

:cry:

I'm really starting to hate the human race.

[4bh0r53n]

2. same

[Nihil]

3. Welcome to DU ...

... sorry that it is such a sad subject with which to be greeted.

:hi:

[phantom power]

4. Soon enough, the arctic mammals will only survive in zoos.

I wonder how long. 10 years? 20?

[jpak]

5. That must have been heartbreaking to see

Walruses are very social animals and the young ones are very needy of mothers and other walruses.

When I was in the Arctic in the late 90's, a young walrus mistook one of our zodiacs for an adult walrus. It pulled itself up on an ice floe, let out a big sigh of relief and cuddled up to it.

After a few minutes of "holy fuck!!" comments from the zodiac team, the little guy finally realized his/her mistake and swam off (looking back pathetically the whole time).

I always wonder what happened to that little one...