I can go back home.
Posted on 02/21/2008 11:09:10 AM PST by InvisibleChurch
In early March, the polar bear could become the first species officially recognized by the U.S. government as threatened by global warming. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has proposed to list the polar bear as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) -- even though U.S. polar bear populations aren't declining.
Fortunately, says H. Sterling Burnett, a senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis, comprehensive research demonstrates that since the 1970s -- while much of the world was warming -- polar bear numbers increased dramatically to approximately 25,000 today (higher than at any time in the 20th century).
Research conducted by the World Wildlife Fund shows that of the 20 distinct polar bear populations worldwide only two — accounting for about 16.4 percent of the total number of bears — are decreasing.
Those populations are in areas where air temperatures have actually fallen, such as the Baffin Bay region. By contrast, another two populations — about 13.6 percent of the total — are growing, and they live in areas were air temperatures have risen. Evolutionary biologist and paleozoologist Susan Crockford, of Canada's University of Victoria, points out that polar bears have historically thrived when temperatures were warmer than today's -- during the medieval warming 1,000 years ago and during the Holocene Climate Optimum 5,000 to 9,000 years ago.
Polar bears thrive during warmer climates because they are omnivores, like brown and black bears. Though seals are currently their primary food source, research shows that they have a varied diet and take advantage of other foods when those are available. Their diets can include fish, kelp, caribou, ducks, sea birds, the occasional beluga whale and musk ox and scavenged whale and walrus carcasses.
Source: H. Sterling Burnett, "Polar Bears on Thin Ice, Not Really! Redux," National Center for Policy Analysis, Brief Analysis No. 610, February 21, 2008.
For text:
http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba610/
For more on Global Warming Science:
http://eteam.ncpa.org/issues/?c=science
For more on Global Warming:
http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_Category=32
I can go back home.
I would think that a bear that is all white would fare better in warmer climes..........
What about penguins?
Wrong Pole.
I love this article!
Duh!
Polar Bears - Arctic
Penguins - Antarctic
NOPE, I saw it on TV
See #7
You win!
Speaking of Polar Bears, I’m assuming that most Polar Bears are wild, and since there are no woods up there, where do they poop?
Of course, now that we appear to be entering a period of “GLOBAL COOLING” does this mean the polar bears are in jeopardy again?
The white fur lets sunlight travel on to the bears skin and heat it. It’s a green house affect:)
Pictures of a polar bear floating precariously on a tiny iceberg have become the defining image of global warming but may be misleading, according to a new study.
Polar bear experts said that numbers had increased due to the efforts of conservationists
A survey of the animals’ numbers in Canada’s eastern Arctic has revealed that they are thriving, not declining, because of mankind’s interference in the environment.
“There aren’t just a few more bears.
There are a hell of a lot more bears,” said Mitch Taylor, a polar bear biologist who has spent 20 years studying the animals.
His findings back the claims of Inuit hunters who have long claimed that they were seeing more bears.
In the Davis Strait area, a 140,000-square kilometre region, the polar bear population has grown from 850 in the mid-1980s to 2,100 today...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/09/wpolar09.xml
I’m going to have to dust up on my bear biology before I can make an intelligent comment about this.
4 year old Grandson was just looking over my shoulder,
“Hey that polar bear has a beer!”
You’ve been watching too many Al Gore movies, haven’t you? ....:-)
Beer?..........He’s old enough to recognize a beer, but not a coca-cola?.........
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