Thin Polar Bears Called Sign of Global Warming

Environmental News Service ^ | 05/16/2002

[cogitator]

Arctic nations that are home to most of the world's polar bears should be leading the charge against global warming

The United States isn't exactly an "Arctic" nation, sweets (parts of North Dakota and Maine excepted).

Any Canadians care to comment?

[APBaer]

Thin Polar Bears Called Sign of Global Warming

No, its a sign that they need more, preferably chubby, tree-huggers to visit.

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

I always appreciate your evenhanded posts, but I just have a hard time believing anything from the World Wildlife Fund.

[GuillermoX]

"Hungry Polar Bears". Isn't that redundant, like saying "Extremist Muslim"?

[mc5cents]

Yawn

[cogitator]

No, its a sign that they need more, preferably chubby, tree-huggers to visit.

I hadn't thought of that solution. Good plan.

[Lost Highway]

One day Chicken Little was walking in the woods when -- KERPLUNK -- an acorn fell on her head

"Oh my goodness!" said Chicken Little. "The sky is falling! I must go and tell the king."

[BikerNYC]

Thin Polar Bears Called Sign of Global Warming

It's just a sign that Body for Life is being sold at a deep discount in the Arctic Circle

[cogitator]

I always appreciate your evenhanded posts, but I just have a hard time believing anything from the World Wildlife Fund.

Well, the problem with the Churchill (Manitoba) polar bears has been known for a couple of years; I saw TV shows about it a couple of years ago. But the Hudson Bay polar bears are a subset of the entire polar bear population, so to extrapolate the condition of these bears to the whole population is certaintly stretching the data. They are, like most top predators, suffering from food-chain concentration of environmental contaminants, but I think other species (such as St. Lawrence belugas and Puget Sound orcas) are in worse shape.

[Jonah Hex]

Maybe Da Bears joined PETA and decided to go vegan?

(pause)

naaaaaaa........

[maximus@Nashville]

Good Heavens...typical liberal clap-trap doomsaying. If the polar bears are thinner now, perhaps they must be more health conscious and are using more tofu and whole grains while getting more arobic exercise between appointments with their yoga instructers and aroma-therapists.

[ArrogantBustard]

I think these people might dispute your claim that the United States aren't an arctic nation.

[VRWC_minion]

I would love to see the fat vs. body mass stats kept during the last 100 years. But my guess is a few researches spot a few thin looking bears and jump to a conclusion.

Any chance they are adapting to the warmer weather we had this year and need less fat ?

[LurkedLongEnough]

threats faced by the world's 22,000 polar bears

Last January, a population of 27,000 bears was reported, along with a 66% error in counting: Higher Nunavut polar bear numbers lead to hopes of increased hunting trade

IQALUIT, Nunavut (CP) - A new survey has found 66 per cent more polar bears in an area of Nunavut than was previously estimated, raising hopes for more visits from American hunters. Nunavut's is estimated to have 16,000 bears - more than half the entire global population of 27,000.

[cogitator]

Yeah, but isn't that like saying France is a tropical nation because it has a province (La Reunion island in the Indian Ocean) that's in the tropics?

[medved]

I'll take one. There are five 16-story buildings in the place where I live, and liberals and democrats sufficient to feed a polar bear for his entire life.

[Post Toasties]

Perhaps these polar bears can switch to munching on the ever-multiplying caribou during summer months.

[Semper Paratus]

Good grief,
Stormy winter= Global Warming
Mild winter= Global Warming
Dry hot summer= Global Warming
Cool rainy summer= Global Warming

[ArrogantBustard]

I'd support an arguement that the United States are a tropical nation, as well. And the Frogs are a tropical nation; they just surrendered to the La Reunion Islanders...

[cogitator]

I would love to see the fat vs. body mass stats kept during the last 100 years. But my guess is a few researches spot a few thin looking bears and jump to a conclusion.

This link sheds some light on that.

The Shrinking Polar Bears

Quotes:

"Eighty per cent of the adult bears in the Churchill area have been tranquillized, handled, tagged, tattooed, weighed and measured, had blood drawn, teeth checked, their behaviour and life history recorded, many more than once."

...

"The scientists have found that for every week the ice breaks up earlier the bears come ashore 10 kilos lighter."

This article also notes that the Manitoba/Hudson Bay population is the best-studied polar bear population anywhere.