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Posted on 04/07/2012 8:54:34 PM PDT by quantim
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Alaska polar bears are losing their fur and U.S. Geological Survey scientists don't know why.
In the past two weeks, nine of 33 bears checked by scientists in the southern Beaufort Sea region near Barrow were found to have alopecia - loss of fur - and skin lesions, said Tony DeGange, chief of the biology office at the USGS Science Center in Anchorage.
Three of four bears inspected Thursday near Kaktovik showed the symptoms as well.
Scientists have been collecting blood and tissue samples from the afflicted bears, but they do not know the cause or the significance of the outbreak, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
"Our data set suggests that this is unusual but not unprecedented," DeGange said. Ten of 48 bears checked by the team in 1998-99 had a similar condition, he said.
In a long-standing project, the USGS has sent polar bear research teams to the area since 1984. The teams track, sedate and examine the bears to help determine their general health and habits.
This year they saw their first bear with hair loss on March 21. The team will wind up this year's operations in May when the sea ice becomes too treacherous for safe travel.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
And consuming all those baby seal pelts that may have affected the diet of polar bears and messing with their hair?
Climate heresy ping.
Also sometimes referred to as “Spring”.
Duh.
lack of iodine? or goiter?
possibly from hybrid-breeding w/grizzlies?
http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/s/00dis/Miscellaneous/Hypothyroid_Bears.htm
Bare bears?
Judging by my couch, it seems that my cats are losing their fur too.
Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair
Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t fuzzy, was he?
That's what is causing the hair loss. Stress and drugs. White people keep following them around darting them.
For men, Dr. Klaper says that a low-fat diet may help slow down the balding process. “On some level, male pattern baldness might be tied to increased testosterone levels during puberty, which are often the result of a high-fat diet or eating too many animal products,” says Dr. Klaper.
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/012893.html#ixzz1rPzuoIWN
Maybe they should cut back on the seal and eat more veggies.
It is simply a new subspecies to be called the Brazilian Polar Bear.
I blame Zimmerman!
Maybe they need to join CLUB FUR FOR BEARS =)
they have to eat fat. they have lots of body to keep warm.
seal is the best practical source, but i suppose a fat ‘long pig’ would make an acceptable appetizer.
Well, doggone it, now that studies have shown the polar bear is not in danger of extinction, we gotta come up with something about the bears we can blame on global warming.
“It is simply a new subspecies to be called the Brazilian Polar Bear.”
Ha!
BUSH’S FAULT!
Radiation poisoning?
At least not as unprecedented as the Supreme Court declaring a law to be unconstitutional.
Well, not actually "losing" it; just finding it in places it's not supposed to be.
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