• Melting Ice Is Crushing and Drowning Baby Seals
    34 replies, posted
[release] [IMG]http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2012/01/f8753df4d1eeee584ddb73c1e34a9390.jpg[/IMG] [h=1]Melting Ice Is Crushing and Drowning Baby Seals[/h][URL="http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2012/01/f8753df4d1eeee584ddb73c1e34a9390.jpg"][/URL]Harp seals use sea ice as their chilly love nests, and after the lovin' leads to babies, parents nurse for just 12 days before the pups are on their own. But their ice dens have been melting beneath the baby seals, and when that happens, their chances of survival are slim. And according to a study published recently in [URL="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0029158#pone.0029158-Kovacs1"]PLOS One[/URL], this melting has been happening more and more in recent decades. In 2007, 75 percent of newborn seals off the east coast of Canada died. In 2010, scientists believe almost none survived. The culprit (as with the so far, but seemingly about to change, [URL="http://gizmodo.com/5875592/why-is-this-winter-so-weirdly-warm-and-dry"]warm and dry winter[/URL] in much of North America), is the North Atlantic Oscillation index, a climate pattern determined by differences in sea-level pressure. When the index is negative, our North American winters are cold and snowy, but conditions across the North Atlantic region from Canada to Russia will be comparatively mild. In 2010 when all the baby seals died, the winter NAO index dropped to −4.64, and ice conditions were the lightest on record in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, a region when harp seals like to hang out. [URL="http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2012/01/f333d9ddb51ef966bd87c23fe8717f1d.jpg"]Full size[/URL] [IMG]http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2012/01/medium_f333d9ddb51ef966bd87c23fe8717f1d.jpg[/IMG] Weather experts believe that extreme fluctuations in the NAO are caused by climate change. And in the current study, researchers looked at the trend of baby seal deaths in relation to the NAO index over several decades. They performed a retrospective cross-correlation analysis of NAO conditions and sea ice cover from 1978 to 2011 and found that NAO-related changes in sea ice likely contributed to the depletion of seals on the east coast of Canada from 1950 to 1972, as well as to their recovery from 1973 to 2000. Overall, they found that sea ice cover in all harp seal breeding regions has been declining by up to 6 percent each decade since the first satellite data became available. [URL="http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2012/01/89d7545aa478014f919f492c06af6af3.jpg"]Full size[/URL] [IMG]http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2012/01/medium_89d7545aa478014f919f492c06af6af3.jpg[/IMG] Though the news isn't good, [URL="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/01/120106-harp-seals-global-warming-sea-ice-science-environment/?source=hp_dl1_news_seals20120110"]National Geographic[/URL] reports that harp seals are not endangered, and they're still hunted regularly. But David Johnston, an author on the study, is concerned for their future, since these icy regions are the only birthing grounds they've ever known. He tells NatGeo:We should control what we can control. We can't control the reproductive biology of seals, or where and how ice forms in their breeding habitats from year to year," he said. What we can control is human behavior. Still, if you're a bleeding heart like me and it kills you to imagine that adorable guy above struggling to survive, learn from our friend [URL="http://www.ecoenquirer.com/baby-seal-man.htm"]baby seal man[/URL] and don't be a hero. The pups might be cute, but the adults will kill you.[/release] [URL]http://gizmodo.com/5875917/melting-ice-is-crushing-and-drowning-baby-seals[/URL] :(
I thought we realized this would happen a while ago.
[QUOTE=Ignhelper;34202796][release]But their ice dens have been melting beneath the baby seals, and when that happens, their chances of survival are slim.[/release][/QUOTE] Damn, I just died a bit inside.
As we lose the Eskimo's, mother nature takes their place to club the little fuckers. Also Overlord 2...
damnit ice stop putting my club out of work [editline]13th January 2012[/editline] ninjas :(
With respect to the article, this kind of melting would have taken place regardless of human activity. Don't get me wrong, our acceleration of the cycle certainly doesn't help matters, but it's not like this is a particularly unexpected event.
Isn't this just a giant cycle and we eventual go into an ice age?
[QUOTE=Shazmind;34202885]Isn't this just a giant cycle and we eventual go into an ice age?[/QUOTE] Correct. The climate change debate is not about whether or not we're causing the cycle, but rather how fast it's occurring. Evidence suggests that we are accelerating the warming due to our CO2 output, hence why these events are (likely) taking place faster than one would expect. There's an awful lot of variables though, and nobody has a definitive answer yet.
Ice age would be cool as fuck.
Fucking hell it's just torture to be a seal. On the off chance you make it out of the deathtrap of a den you live in you're gonna make it a couple feet before you get clubbed to death by some asshole who likes your fur.
[QUOTE=The one that is;34202971]Ice age would be cool as fuck.[/QUOTE] I'm not a big fan of widespread starvation due to lack of adequate food supply. Seems like a bum deal.
why are people rating this funny?
Who cares there's more seals than ever.
[QUOTE=JeanLuc761;34203008]I'm not a big fan of widespread starvation due to lack of adequate food supply. Seems like a bum deal.[/QUOTE] The pun Your head
[QUOTE=JeanLuc761;34203008]I'm not a big fan of widespread starvation due to lack of adequate food supply. Seems like a bum deal.[/QUOTE] Ice Age would be COOL. Do you not get the joke?
[QUOTE=The one that is;34203075]The pun Your head[/QUOTE] I'll be perfectly honest, the first thing I thought was "There is no way he made that pun. Better take it seriously." Whoops :v:
[video=youtube;0QPNEduDa-4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QPNEduDa-4[/video] Noooooo
[QUOTE=richard9311;34203172][video=youtube;0QPNEduDa-4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QPNEduDa-4[/video][/QUOTE] oh my god, give me 500
[QUOTE=Pelican;34203255]oh my god, give me 500[/QUOTE] you must have quite the urge to go clubbing
I want a baby seal just to carry it, love it, care for it and make overlord 2 references all day.
Fucking ice is putting the clubbing Eskimos out of business!
[QUOTE=Dysgalt;34203590]Fucking ice is putting the clubbing Eskimos out of business![/QUOTE] Fucking ice. Let's melt it, teach the fucker a lesson!
Okay, for one. They're not Eskimos, they're Inuit. For two, it's mostly us Newfies that do the clubbing. It's called the Newfoundland Seal Hunt.
[QUOTE=Arc Nova;34204072]Okay, for one. They're not Eskimos, they're Inuit. For two, it's mostly us Newfies that do the clubbing. It's called the Newfoundland Seal Hunt.[/QUOTE] Is there much point in calling it a "hunt" I mean I can't imagine they can move very fast
Extremely difficult to get to. [editline]14th January 2012[/editline] people die okay.
[QUOTE=Arc Nova;34204170]Extremely difficult to get to. [editline]14th January 2012[/editline] people die okay.[/QUOTE] So do seals.
[QUOTE=DeandreT;34204283]So do seals.[/QUOTE] Difference is, people matter.
"Just say global warming kills baby seals, that'll make everyone try to save electricity."
Well, seals feed on codfish, one of Atlantic Canada's greatest resources is the fishing industry, if we didn't control their population they would eat all of the fish. Especially since the number of fish has reduced drastically. Then they would just die of mass starvation.
[QUOTE=Arc Nova;34204361]Well, seals feed on codfish, one of Atlantic Canada's greatest resources is the fishing industry, if we didn't control their population they would eat all of the fish. Especially since the number of fish has reduced drastically. Then they would just die of mass starvation.[/QUOTE] Their coura- I mean their hearts are just a bonus...Tasty, tasty hearts.
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