Global warming threatens polar bears [ESA listing as "threatened" to be announced]

Toronto Star ^ | 12/27/2006 | John Heilprin

[westmichman]

Soon the seals will be overpopulated because the bears can't get them, then we'll have to club the baby ones to keep them from getting overpopulated. Better yet, we could spend millions on a bridge to the seals for the bears. Probably wouldn't cost much more than the "Bridge to Nowhere".

[Little Ray]

I thought Polar Bear lived in the Antarctic - after all I saw a Coke commercial that showed 'em partying with penguins and everybody knows that penguins live the Antarctic, right?

[cogitator]

I thought Polar Bear lived in the Antarctic - after all I saw a Coke commercial that showed 'em partying with penguins and everybody knows that penguins live the Antarctic, right?

Penguins, puffins, what's the difference?

[westmichman]

Polar Bear live wherever he want. Him heap big bear don't take no scat from nobody.

[cogitator]

The greatest threat to the polar bears is overhunting and we are powerless to stop that short of a policeman assigned as a personal bodyguard to every bear in Alaska.

I just have to wonder if the 30% projected decline over the next 45 years is expected to be due mainly to overhunting or due to environmental changes.

[gcruse]

"If they are just interested in the "Artic" Bears, just stop granting permits for 7 or 8 years. More junk science. "

It isn't science. It's a backroad to Kyoto.

[jonno]

I'm guessing the penguin lobby is definitely against this...

[Little Ray]

Well me not going to argue wit' him.

[The_Reader_David]

Gee, and seeing that global warming is caused by changes in solar magnetism, not human activity, there's not much we can do about it other than breed polar bears in zoos.

[3niner]

Many bears are interfertile and can produce fertile offspring. When animals of "different species" can produce offspring, which can not only reproduce as hybrids, but are also interfertile with both parent "species", it means that they were not really different species, in the first place.

Properly speaking, polar bears and brown bears are really just different subspecies (or races). This means that they have fairly great genetic diversity. Genetic diversity allows a species to adapt to a range of environments at a given time, or to adapt to environmental changes that occur over time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursinae_hybrid

This is a total non-issue. Just another made up story to get people worked up over something that is beyond our control anyway.

[Old Professer]

Fervid imagination is all you need consider.

[RunningWolf]

Whoa, thats different from the one I saw. Looks like the inter-mix is accelerating.