Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

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The Sunday Times December 18, 2005 SCIENTISTS have for the first time found evidence that polar bears are drowning because climate change is melting the Arctic ice shelf. The researchers were startled to find bears having to swim up to 60 miles across open sea to find food. They are being forced into the long voyages because the ice floes from which they feed are melting, becoming smaller and drifting farther apart. Although polar bears are strong swimmers, they are adapted for swimming close to the shore. Their sea journeys leave them them vulnerable to exhaustion, hypothermia or being swamped by waves. According to the new research, four bear carcases were found floating in one month in a single patch of sea off

the north coast of Alaska, where average summer temperatures have increased by 2-3C degrees since 1950s. The scientists believe such drownings are becoming widespread across the Arctic, an inevitable consequence of the doubling in the past 20 years of the proportion of polar bears having to swim in open seas. “Mortalities due to offshore swimming may be a relatively important and unaccounted source of natural mortality given the energetic demands placed on individual bears engaged in long-distance swimming,” says the research led by Dr Charles Monnett, marine ecologist at the American government’s Minerals Management Service. “Drowning-related deaths of polar bears may increase in the future if the observed trend of regression of pack ice continues.” The research, presented to a conference on marine mammals in San Diego, California, last week, comes amid evidence of a decline in numbers of the 22,000 polar bears that live in about 20 sites across the Arctic

circle. In Hudson Bay, Canada, the site of the most southerly polar bears, a study by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the Canadian Wildlife Service to be published next year will show the population fell 22% from 1,194 in 1987 to 935 last year. New evidence from field researchers working for the World Wildlife Fund in Yakutia, on the northeast coast of Russia, has also shown the region’s first evidence of cannibalism among bears competing for food supplies. Polar bears live on ice all year round and use it as a platform from which to hunt food and rear their young. They hunt near the edge, where the ice is thinnest, catching seals when they make holes in the ice to breath. They typically eat one seal every four or five days and a single bear can consume 100lb of blubber at one sitting. As the ice pack retreats north in the summer between June and October, the bears must travel between ice floes to continue hunting in areas such as the shallow water of

the continental shelf off the Alaskan coast — one of the most food-rich areas in the Arctic. However, last summer the ice cap receded about 200 miles further north than the average of two decades ago, forcing the bears to undertake far longer voyages between floes. “We know short swims up to 15 miles are no problem, and we know that one or two may have swum up to 100 miles. But that is the extent of their ability, and if they are trying to make such a long swim and they encounter rough seas they could get into trouble,” said Steven Amstrup, a research wildlife biologist with the USGS. The new study, carried out in part of the Beaufort Sea, shows that between 1986 and 2005 just 4% of the bears spotted off the north coast of Alaska were swimming in open waters. Not a single drowning had been documented in the area. However, last September, when the ice cap had retreated a record 160 miles north of Alaska, 51 bears were spotted, of which 20% were seen in the

open sea, swimming as far as 60 miles off shore. The researchers returned to the vicinity a few days later after a fierce storm and found four dead bears floating in the water. “We estimate that of the order of 40 bears may have been swimming and that many of those probably drowned as a result of rough seas caused by high winds,” said the report. In their search for food, polar bears are also having to roam further south, rummaging in the dustbins of Canadian homes. Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the explorer who has been to the North Pole seven times, said he had noticed a deterioration in the bears’ ice habitat since his first expedition in 1975. “Each year there was more water than the time before,” he said. “We used amphibious sledges for the first time in 1986.” His last expedition was in 2002, when he fell through the ice and lost some of his fingers to

frostbite.Peter H

 

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its ok, they can enjoy a coke.... peter hurd Dec 18, 2005 11:43 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sunday Times

December 18, 2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SCIENTISTS have for the first time found evidence that polar bears are drowning because climate change is melting the Arctic ice shelf. The researchers were startled to find bears having to swim up to 60 miles across open sea to find food. They are being forced into the long voyages because the ice floes from which they feed are melting, becoming smaller and drifting farther apart.

 

 

 

 

 

NI_MPU('middle'); Although polar bears are strong swimmers, they are adapted for swimming close to the shore. Their sea journeys leave them them vulnerable to exhaustion, hypothermia or being swamped by waves. According to the new research, four bear carcases were found floating in one month in a single patch of sea off the north coast of Alaska, where average summer temperatures have increased by 2-3C degrees since 1950s. The scientists believe such drownings are becoming widespread across the Arctic, an inevitable consequence of the doubling in the past 20 years of the proportion of polar bears having to swim in open seas. Mortalities due to offshore swimming may be a relatively important and unaccounted source of natural mortality given the energetic demands placed on individual bears engaged in long-distance swimming, says the research led by Dr Charles Monnett, marine ecologist at the American governments Minerals Management Service. Drowning-related deaths of polar bears may increase in the future if the observed trend of regression of pack ice continues. The research, presented to a conference on marine mammals in San Diego, California, last week, comes amid evidence of a decline in numbers of the 22,000 polar bears that live in about 20 sites across the Arctic circle. In Hudson Bay, Canada, the site of the most southerly polar bears, a study by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the Canadian Wildlife Service to be published next year will show the population fell 22% from 1,194 in 1987 to 935 last year. New evidence from field researchers working for the World Wildlife Fund in Yakutia, on the northeast coast of Russia, has also shown the regions first evidence of cannibalism among bears competing for food supplies. Polar bears live on ice all year round and use it as a platform from which to hunt food and rear their young. They hunt near the edge, where the ice is thinnest, catching seals when they make holes in the ice to breath. They typically eat one seal every four or five days and a single bear can consume 100lb of blubber at one sitting. As the ice pack retreats north in the summer between June and October, the bears must travel between ice floes to continue hunting in areas such as the shallow water of the continental shelf off the Alaskan coast one of the most food-rich areas in the Arctic. However, last summer the ice cap receded about 200 miles further north than the average of two decades ago, forcing the bears to undertake far longer voyages between floes. We know short swims up to 15 miles are no problem, and we know that one or two may have swum up to 100 miles. But that is the extent of their ability, and if they are trying to make such a long swim and they encounter rough seas they could get into trouble, said Steven Amstrup, a research wildlife biologist with the USGS. The new study, carried out in part of the Beaufort Sea, shows that between 1986 and 2005 just 4% of the bears spotted off the north coast of Alaska were swimming in open waters. Not a single drowning had been documented in the area. However, last September, when the ice cap had retreated a record 160 miles north of Alaska, 51 bears were spotted, of which 20% were seen in the open sea, swimming as far as 60 miles off shore. The researchers returned to the vicinity a few days later after a fierce storm and found four dead bears floating in the water. We estimate that of the order of 40 bears may have been swimming and that many of those probably drowned as a result of rough seas caused by high winds, said the report. In their search for food, polar bears are also having to roam further south, rummaging in the dustbins of Canadian homes. Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the explorer who has been to the North Pole seven times, said he had noticed a deterioration in the bears ice habitat since his first expedition in 1975. Each year there was more water than the time before, he said. We used amphibious sledges for the first time in 1986. His last expedition was in 2002, when he fell through the ice and lost some of his fingers to frostbite.

Peter H

 

 

 

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I read about this the other day...one of the organizations I belong to sent it to me...maybe Defenders of Wildlife. And I got stuff on the shooting of the elephants from several sources...let me see what else did I get this week that made me think that the human race wasn't as bad as it seemed...no wait a minute...I have that backwards don't I? Is that why I feel so sad? Truly sad. So I am trying at this moment to focus on my little loves here that I can impact. Sending letters, e-mailing, and signing petitions is good too and I won't stop doing that, but goddess, sometimes it seems so hopeless, this slaughter of life. My delete button still not working but my back spacer does for erasing. Oops, I spoke too soon...it's not working now either.

linda

"Whatever you do will be insignificant and it is very important that you do it."Mohandas Gandhi

 

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peter hurd

Sunday, December 18, 2005 11:43 AM

Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sunday Times

December 18, 2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SCIENTISTS have for the first time found evidence that polar bears are drowning because climate change is melting the Arctic ice shelf. The researchers were startled to find bears having to swim up to 60 miles across open sea to find food. They are being forced into the long voyages because the ice floes from which they feed are melting, becoming smaller and drifting farther apart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although polar bears are strong swimmers, they are adapted for swimming close to the shore. Their sea journeys leave them them vulnerable to exhaustion, hypothermia or being swamped by waves. According to the new research, four bear carcases were found floating in one month in a single patch of sea off the north coast of Alaska, where average summer temperatures have increased by 2-3C degrees since 1950s. The scientists believe such drownings are becoming widespread across the Arctic, an inevitable consequence of the doubling in the past 20 years of the proportion of polar bears having to swim in open seas. “Mortalities due to offshore swimming may be a relatively important and unaccounted source of natural mortality given the energetic demands placed on individual bears engaged in long-distance swimming,” says the research led by Dr Charles Monnett, marine ecologist at the American government’s Minerals Management Service. “Drowning-related deaths of polar bears may increase in the future if the observed trend of regression of pack ice continues.” The research, presented to a conference on marine mammals in San Diego, California, last week, comes amid evidence of a decline in numbers of the 22,000 polar bears that live in about 20 sites across the Arctic circle. In Hudson Bay, Canada, the site of the most southerly polar bears, a study by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the Canadian Wildlife Service to be published next year will show the population fell 22% from 1,194 in 1987 to 935 last year. New evidence from field researchers working for the World Wildlife Fund in Yakutia, on the northeast coast of Russia, has also shown the region’s first evidence of cannibalism among bears competing for food supplies. Polar bears live on ice all year round and use it as a platform from which to hunt food and rear their young. They hunt near the edge, where the ice is thinnest, catching seals when they make holes in the ice to breath. They typically eat one seal every four or five days and a single bear can consume 100lb of blubber at one sitting. As the ice pack retreats north in the summer between June and October, the bears must travel between ice floes to continue hunting in areas such as the shallow water of the continental shelf off the Alaskan coast — one of the most food-rich areas in the Arctic. However, last summer the ice cap receded about 200 miles further north than the average of two decades ago, forcing the bears to undertake far longer voyages between floes. “We know short swims up to 15 miles are no problem, and we know that one or two may have swum up to 100 miles. But that is the extent of their ability, and if they are trying to make such a long swim and they encounter rough seas they could get into trouble,” said Steven Amstrup, a research wildlife biologist with the USGS. The new study, carried out in part of the Beaufort Sea, shows that between 1986 and 2005 just 4% of the bears spotted off the north coast of Alaska were swimming in open waters. Not a single drowning had been documented in the area. However, last September, when the ice cap had retreated a record 160 miles north of Alaska, 51 bears were spotted, of which 20% were seen in the open sea, swimming as far as 60 miles off shore. The researchers returned to the vicinity a few days later after a fierce storm and found four dead bears floating in the water. “We estimate that of the order of 40 bears may have been swimming and that many of those probably drowned as a result of rough seas caused by high winds,” said the report. In their search for food, polar bears are also having to roam further south, rummaging in the dustbins of Canadian homes. Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the explorer who has been to the North Pole seven times, said he had noticed a deterioration in the bears’ ice habitat since his first expedition in 1975. “Each year there was more water than the time before,” he said. “We used amphibious sledges for the first time in 1986.” His last expedition was in 2002, when he fell through the ice and lost some of his fingers to frostbite.

Peter H

 

 

 

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Sad that you can make light of it, even if you are having a dig at that cola advert/firm. The Valley Vegan.............fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote: its ok, they can enjoy a coke.... peter hurd Dec 18, 2005 11:43 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts The Sunday Times December 18, 2005 SCIENTISTS have for the first time found evidence that polar bears are drowning because climate change is melting the Arctic ice shelf. The researchers were startled to find bears having to swim up to 60 miles across open sea to find food. They are being forced into the long

voyages because the ice floes from which they feed are melting, becoming smaller and drifting farther apart. NI_MPU('middle'); Although polar bears are strong swimmers, they are adapted for swimming close to the shore. Their sea journeys leave them them vulnerable to exhaustion, hypothermia or being swamped by waves. According to the new research, four bear carcases were found floating in one month in a single patch of sea off the north coast of Alaska, where average summer temperatures have increased by 2-3C degrees since 1950s. The scientists believe such drownings are becoming widespread across the Arctic, an inevitable consequence of the doubling in the past 20 years of the proportion of polar bears having to swim in open

seas. “Mortalities due to offshore swimming may be a relatively important and unaccounted source of natural mortality given the energetic demands placed on individual bears engaged in long-distance swimming,” says the research led by Dr Charles Monnett, marine ecologist at the American government’s Minerals Management Service. “Drowning-related deaths of polar bears may increase in the future if the observed trend of regression of pack ice continues.” The research, presented to a conference on marine mammals in San Diego, California, last week, comes amid evidence of a decline in numbers of the 22,000 polar bears that live in about 20 sites across the Arctic circle. In Hudson Bay, Canada, the site of the most southerly polar bears, a study by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the Canadian Wildlife Service to be published next year will show the population fell 22% from 1,194 in 1987 to 935 last year. New evidence from field researchers working for the

World Wildlife Fund in Yakutia, on the northeast coast of Russia, has also shown the region’s first evidence of cannibalism among bears competing for food supplies. Polar bears live on ice all year round and use it as a platform from which to hunt food and rear their young. They hunt near the edge, where the ice is thinnest, catching seals when they make holes in the ice to breath. They typically eat one seal every four or five days and a single bear can consume 100lb of blubber at one sitting. As the ice pack retreats north in the summer between June and October, the bears must travel between ice floes to continue hunting in areas such as the shallow water of the continental shelf off the Alaskan coast — one of the most food-rich areas in the Arctic. However, last summer the ice cap receded about 200 miles further north than the average of two decades ago, forcing the bears to undertake far longer voyages between floes. “We know short swims up to 15

miles are no problem, and we know that one or two may have swum up to 100 miles. But that is the extent of their ability, and if they are trying to make such a long swim and they encounter rough seas they could get into trouble,” said Steven Amstrup, a research wildlife biologist with the USGS. The new study, carried out in part of the Beaufort Sea, shows that between 1986 and 2005 just 4% of the bears spotted off the north coast of Alaska were swimming in open waters. Not a single drowning had been documented in the area. However, last September, when the ice cap had retreated a record 160 miles north of Alaska, 51 bears were spotted, of which 20% were seen in the open sea, swimming as far as 60 miles off shore. The researchers returned to the vicinity a few days later after a fierce storm and found four dead bears floating in the water. “We estimate that of the order of 40 bears may have been swimming and that many of those probably drowned as a result of

rough seas caused by high winds,” said the report. In their search for food, polar bears are also having to roam further south, rummaging in the dustbins of Canadian homes. Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the explorer who has been to the North Pole seven times, said he had noticed a deterioration in the bears’ ice habitat since his first expedition in 1975. “Each year there was more water than the time before,” he said. “We used amphibious sledges for the first time in 1986.” His last expedition was in 2002, when he fell through the ice and lost some of his fingers to frostbite. Peter H To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Security Centre. To send an email to -

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its called sarcasm...

and you ask wots wrong with me.... peter hurd Dec 19, 2005 11:11 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

Sad that you can make light of it, even if you are having a dig at that cola advert/firm.

 

The Valley Vegan.............fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote:

 

its ok, they can enjoy a coke.... peter hurd Dec 18, 2005 11:43 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sunday Times

December 18, 2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SCIENTISTS have for the first time found evidence that polar bears are drowning because climate change is melting the Arctic ice shelf. The researchers were startled to find bears having to swim up to 60 miles across open sea to find food. They are being forced into the long voyages because the ice floes from which they feed are melting, becoming smaller and drifting farther apart.

 

 

 

 

 

NI_MPU('middle'); Although polar bears are strong swimmers, they are adapted for swimming close to the shore. Their sea journeys leave them them vulnerable to exhaustion, hypothermia or being swamped by waves. According to the new research, four bear carcases were found floating in one month in a single patch of sea off the north coast of Alaska, where average summer temperatures have increased by 2-3C degrees since 1950s. The scientists believe such drownings are becoming widespread across the Arctic, an inevitable consequence of the doubling in the past 20 years of the proportion of polar bears having to swim in open seas. Mortalities due to offshore swimming may be a relatively important and unaccounted source of natural mortality given the energetic demands placed on individual bears engaged in long-distance swimming, says the research led by Dr Charles Monnett, marine ecologist at the American governments Minerals Management Service. Drowning-related deaths of polar bears may increase in the future if the observed trend of regression of pack ice continues. The research, presented to a conference on marine mammals in San Diego, California, last week, comes amid evidence of a decline in numbers of the 22,000 polar bears that live in about 20 sites across the Arctic circle. In Hudson Bay, Canada, the site of the most southerly polar bears, a study by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the Canadian Wildlife Service to be published next year will show the population fell 22% from 1,194 in 1987 to 935 last year. New evidence from field researchers working for the World Wildlife Fund in Yakutia, on the northeast coast of Russia, has also shown the regions first evidence of cannibalism among bears competing for food supplies. Polar bears live on ice all year round and use it as a platform from which to hunt food and rear their young. They hunt near the edge, where the ice is thinnest, catching seals when they make holes in the ice to breath. They typically eat one seal every four or five days and a single bear can consume 100lb of blubber at one sitting. As the ice pack retreats north in the summer between June and October, the bears must travel between ice floes to continue hunting in areas such as the shallow water of the continental shelf off the Alaskan coast one of the most food-rich areas in the Arctic. However, last summer the ice cap receded about 200 miles further north than the average of two decades ago, forcing the bears to undertake far longer voyages between floes. We know short swims up to 15 miles are no problem, and we know that one or two may have swum up to 100 miles. But that is the extent of their ability, and if they are trying to make such a long swim and they encounter rough seas they could get into trouble, said Steven Amstrup, a research wildlife biologist with the USGS. The new study, carried out in part of the Beaufort Sea, shows that between 1986 and 2005 just 4% of the bears spotted off the north coast of Alaska were swimming in open waters. Not a single drowning had been documented in the area. However, last September, when the ice cap had retreated a record 160 miles north of Alaska, 51 bears were spotted, of which 20% were seen in the open sea, swimming as far as 60 miles off shore. The researchers returned to the vicinity a few days later after a fierce storm and found four dead bears floating in the water. We estimate that of the order of 40 bears may have been swimming and that many of those probably drowned as a result of rough seas caused by high winds, said the report. In their search for food, polar bears are also having to roam further south, rummaging in the dustbins of Canadian homes. Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the explorer who has been to the North Pole seven times, said he had noticed a deterioration in the bears ice habitat since his first expedition in 1975. Each year there was more water than the time before, he said. We used amphibious sledges for the first time in 1986. His last expedition was in 2002, when he fell through the ice and lost some of his fingers to frostbite.

Peter H

 

 

 

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Sorry, never head of it! Back at you..... The Valley Vegan................. Catch a bright star and a place it on your fore-headSay a few spells and baby, there you goTake a black cat and sit it on your shoulderAnd in the morning you'll know all you know, ohfraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote: its called sarcasm... and you ask wots wrong with me.... peter hurd Dec 19, 2005 11:11 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts Sad that you can make light of it, even if you are having a dig at that cola advert/firm. The Valley Vegan.............fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote: its ok, they can enjoy a coke.... peter hurd Dec 18, 2005 11:43 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts The Sunday Times December 18, 2005 SCIENTISTS have for the first time found evidence that polar bears are drowning because climate change is melting the Arctic ice shelf. The researchers were startled to find bears having to swim up to 60 miles across open sea to find food. They are being forced into the long voyages because the ice floes from which they feed are melting, becoming smaller and drifting farther

apart. NI_MPU('middle'); Although polar bears are strong swimmers, they are adapted for swimming close to the shore. Their sea journeys leave them them vulnerable to exhaustion, hypothermia or being swamped by waves. According to the new research, four bear carcases were found floating in one month in a single patch of sea off the north coast of Alaska, where average summer temperatures have increased by 2-3C degrees since 1950s. The scientists believe such drownings are becoming widespread across the Arctic, an inevitable consequence of the doubling in the past 20 years of the proportion of polar bears having to swim in open seas. “Mortalities due to offshore swimming may be a relatively important and unaccounted

source of natural mortality given the energetic demands placed on individual bears engaged in long-distance swimming,” says the research led by Dr Charles Monnett, marine ecologist at the American government’s Minerals Management Service. “Drowning-related deaths of polar bears may increase in the future if the observed trend of regression of pack ice continues.” The research, presented to a conference on marine mammals in San Diego, California, last week, comes amid evidence of a decline in numbers of the 22,000 polar bears that live in about 20 sites across the Arctic circle. In Hudson Bay, Canada, the site of the most southerly polar bears, a study by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the Canadian Wildlife Service to be published next year will show the population fell 22% from 1,194 in 1987 to 935 last year. New evidence from field researchers working for the World Wildlife Fund in Yakutia, on the northeast coast of Russia, has also shown the region’s

first evidence of cannibalism among bears competing for food supplies. Polar bears live on ice all year round and use it as a platform from which to hunt food and rear their young. They hunt near the edge, where the ice is thinnest, catching seals when they make holes in the ice to breath. They typically eat one seal every four or five days and a single bear can consume 100lb of blubber at one sitting. As the ice pack retreats north in the summer between June and October, the bears must travel between ice floes to continue hunting in areas such as the shallow water of the continental shelf off the Alaskan coast — one of the most food-rich areas in the Arctic. However, last summer the ice cap receded about 200 miles further north than the average of two decades ago, forcing the bears to undertake far longer voyages between floes. “We know short swims up to 15 miles are no problem, and we know that one or two may have swum up to 100 miles. But that is the

extent of their ability, and if they are trying to make such a long swim and they encounter rough seas they could get into trouble,” said Steven Amstrup, a research wildlife biologist with the USGS. The new study, carried out in part of the Beaufort Sea, shows that between 1986 and 2005 just 4% of the bears spotted off the north coast of Alaska were swimming in open waters. Not a single drowning had been documented in the area. However, last September, when the ice cap had retreated a record 160 miles north of Alaska, 51 bears were spotted, of which 20% were seen in the open sea, swimming as far as 60 miles off shore. The researchers returned to the vicinity a few days later after a fierce storm and found four dead bears floating in the water. “We estimate that of the order of 40 bears may have been swimming and that many of those probably drowned as a result of rough seas caused by high winds,” said the report. In their search for food, polar bears are

also having to roam further south, rummaging in the dustbins of Canadian homes. Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the explorer who has been to the North Pole seven times, said he had noticed a deterioration in the bears’ ice habitat since his first expedition in 1975. “Each year there was more water than the time before,” he said. “We used amphibious sledges for the first time in 1986.” His last expedition was in 2002, when he fell through the ice and lost some of his fingers to frostbite. Peter H To help

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[Guest guest]

oh the sad state of welsh skoolin

well, i imagine you don't have time..i mean , writing the town you live in on a piece of paper must take up half the skool year...

peter hurd Dec 19, 2005 11:35 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

Sorry, never head of it!

Back at you.....

 

The Valley Vegan.................

Catch a bright star and a place it on your fore-headSay a few spells and baby, there you goTake a black cat and sit it on your shoulderAnd in the morning you'll know all you know, ohfraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote:

 

its called sarcasm...

and you ask wots wrong with me.... peter hurd Dec 19, 2005 11:11 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

Sad that you can make light of it, even if you are having a dig at that cola advert/firm.

 

The Valley Vegan.............fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote:

 

its ok, they can enjoy a coke.... peter hurd Dec 18, 2005 11:43 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sunday Times

December 18, 2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SCIENTISTS have for the first time found evidence that polar bears are drowning because climate change is melting the Arctic ice shelf. The researchers were startled to find bears having to swim up to 60 miles across open sea to find food. They are being forced into the long voyages because the ice floes from which they feed are melting, becoming smaller and drifting farther apart.

 

 

 

 

 

NI_MPU('middle'); Although polar bears are strong swimmers, they are adapted for swimming close to the shore. Their sea journeys leave them them vulnerable to exhaustion, hypothermia or being swamped by waves. According to the new research, four bear carcases were found floating in one month in a single patch of sea off the north coast of Alaska, where average summer temperatures have increased by 2-3C degrees since 1950s. The scientists believe such drownings are becoming widespread across the Arctic, an inevitable consequence of the doubling in the past 20 years of the proportion of polar bears having to swim in open seas. Mortalities due to offshore swimming may be a relatively important and unaccounted source of natural mortality given the energetic demands placed on individual bears engaged in long-distance swimming, says the research led by Dr Charles Monnett, marine ecologist at the American governments Minerals Management Service. Drowning-related deaths of polar bears may increase in the future if the observed trend of regression of pack ice continues. The research, presented to a conference on marine mammals in San Diego, California, last week, comes amid evidence of a decline in numbers of the 22,000 polar bears that live in about 20 sites across the Arctic circle. In Hudson Bay, Canada, the site of the most southerly polar bears, a study by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the Canadian Wildlife Service to be published next year will show the population fell 22% from 1,194 in 1987 to 935 last year. New evidence from field researchers working for the World Wildlife Fund in Yakutia, on the northeast coast of Russia, has also shown the regions first evidence of cannibalism among bears competing for food supplies. Polar bears live on ice all year round and use it as a platform from which to hunt food and rear their young. They hunt near the edge, where the ice is thinnest, catching seals when they make holes in the ice to breath. They typically eat one seal every four or five days and a single bear can consume 100lb of blubber at one sitting. As the ice pack retreats north in the summer between June and October, the bears must travel between ice floes to continue hunting in areas such as the shallow water of the continental shelf off the Alaskan coast one of the most food-rich areas in the Arctic. However, last summer the ice cap receded about 200 miles further north than the average of two decades ago, forcing the bears to undertake far longer voyages between floes. We know short swims up to 15 miles are no problem, and we know that one or two may have swum up to 100 miles. But that is the extent of their ability, and if they are trying to make such a long swim and they encounter rough seas they could get into trouble, said Steven Amstrup, a research wildlife biologist with the USGS. The new study, carried out in part of the Beaufort Sea, shows that between 1986 and 2005 just 4% of the bears spotted off the north coast of Alaska were swimming in open waters. Not a single drowning had been documented in the area. However, last September, when the ice cap had retreated a record 160 miles north of Alaska, 51 bears were spotted, of which 20% were seen in the open sea, swimming as far as 60 miles off shore. The researchers returned to the vicinity a few days later after a fierce storm and found four dead bears floating in the water. We estimate that of the order of 40 bears may have been swimming and that many of those probably drowned as a result of rough seas caused by high winds, said the report. In their search for food, polar bears are also having to roam further south, rummaging in the dustbins of Canadian homes. Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the explorer who has been to the North Pole seven times, said he had noticed a deterioration in the bears ice habitat since his first expedition in 1975. Each year there was more water than the time before, he said. We used amphibious sledges for the first time in 1986. His last expedition was in 2002, when he fell through the ice and lost some of his fingers to frostbite.

Peter H

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

The name of my town is Bargoed! shorter than yours? And as for Welsh schooling, a fair point I suppose, although I do seem to compose sentances better than yourself, do I not? The Valley Vegan.............. Friends say it's fine, friends say it's goodEv'rybody says it's just like rock'n'rollMove like a cat, charge like a ramSting like I feel, babe I wanna be your manfraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote: oh the sad state of welsh skoolin well, i imagine you don't have time..i mean , writing the town you live in on a piece of paper must take up half the skool year... peter hurd Dec 19, 2005

11:35 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts Sorry, never head of it! Back at you..... The Valley Vegan................. Catch a bright star and a place it on your fore-headSay a few spells and baby, there you goTake a black cat and sit it on your shoulderAnd in the morning you'll know all you know, ohfraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote: its called sarcasm... and you ask wots wrong with me.... peter hurd Dec 19, 2005 11:11 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf

melts Sad that you can make light of it, even if you are having a dig at that cola advert/firm. The Valley Vegan.............fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote: its ok, they can enjoy a coke.... peter hurd Dec 18, 2005 11:43 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts The Sunday Times December 18, 2005 SCIENTISTS have for the first time found evidence that polar bears are drowning because climate change is melting the Arctic ice shelf. The researchers were startled to find bears having to swim up to 60 miles across open sea to find

food. They are being forced into the long voyages because the ice floes from which they feed are melting, becoming smaller and drifting farther apart. NI_MPU('middle'); Although polar bears are strong swimmers, they are adapted for swimming close to the shore. Their sea journeys leave them them vulnerable to exhaustion, hypothermia or being swamped by waves. According to the new research, four bear carcases were found floating in one month in a single patch of sea off the north coast of Alaska, where average summer temperatures have increased by 2-3C degrees since 1950s. The scientists believe such drownings are becoming widespread across the Arctic, an inevitable consequence of the doubling in the past 20 years of the

proportion of polar bears having to swim in open seas. “Mortalities due to offshore swimming may be a relatively important and unaccounted source of natural mortality given the energetic demands placed on individual bears engaged in long-distance swimming,” says the research led by Dr Charles Monnett, marine ecologist at the American government’s Minerals Management Service. “Drowning-related deaths of polar bears may increase in the future if the observed trend of regression of pack ice continues.” The research, presented to a conference on marine mammals in San Diego, California, last week, comes amid evidence of a decline in numbers of the 22,000 polar bears that live in about 20 sites across the Arctic circle. In Hudson Bay, Canada, the site of the most southerly polar bears, a study by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the Canadian Wildlife Service to be published next year will show the population fell 22% from 1,194 in 1987 to 935 last year. New

evidence from field researchers working for the World Wildlife Fund in Yakutia, on the northeast coast of Russia, has also shown the region’s first evidence of cannibalism among bears competing for food supplies. Polar bears live on ice all year round and use it as a platform from which to hunt food and rear their young. They hunt near the edge, where the ice is thinnest, catching seals when they make holes in the ice to breath. They typically eat one seal every four or five days and a single bear can consume 100lb of blubber at one sitting. As the ice pack retreats north in the summer between June and October, the bears must travel between ice floes to continue hunting in areas such as the shallow water of the continental shelf off the Alaskan coast — one of the most food-rich areas in the Arctic. However, last summer the ice cap receded about 200 miles further north than the average of two decades ago, forcing the bears to undertake far longer voyages between

floes. “We know short swims up to 15 miles are no problem, and we know that one or two may have swum up to 100 miles. But that is the extent of their ability, and if they are trying to make such a long swim and they encounter rough seas they could get into trouble,” said Steven Amstrup, a research wildlife biologist with the USGS. The new study, carried out in part of the Beaufort Sea, shows that between 1986 and 2005 just 4% of the bears spotted off the north coast of Alaska were swimming in open waters. Not a single drowning had been documented in the area. However, last September, when the ice cap had retreated a record 160 miles north of Alaska, 51 bears were spotted, of which 20% were seen in the open sea, swimming as far as 60 miles off shore. The researchers returned to the vicinity a few days later after a fierce storm and found four dead bears floating in the water. “We estimate that of the order of 40 bears may have been swimming and that many

of those probably drowned as a result of rough seas caused by high winds,” said the report. In their search for food, polar bears are also having to roam further south, rummaging in the dustbins of Canadian homes. Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the explorer who has been to the North Pole seven times, said he had noticed a deterioration in the bears’ ice habitat since his first expedition in 1975. “Each year there was more water than the time before,” he said. “We used amphibious sledges for the first time in 1986.” His last expedition was in 2002, when he fell through the ice and lost some of his fingers to frostbite. Peter H To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Security Centre. To send an email to -

[Guest guest]

lets see if i'm actually able to send this..dang earthlink

 

so..maybe they count things differently in walesville...

but

hmm

oakland....7 letters....

and..should i comment on sentence spelled with an a?

teehee peter hurd Dec 19, 2005 11:58 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

The name of my town is Bargoed! shorter than yours?

 

And as for Welsh schooling, a fair point I suppose, although I do seem to compose sentances better than yourself, do I not?

 

The Valley Vegan..............

Friends say it's fine, friends say it's goodEv'rybody says it's just like rock'n'rollMove like a cat, charge like a ramSting like I feel, babe I wanna be your manfraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote:

 

oh the sad state of welsh skoolin

well, i imagine you don't have time..i mean , writing the town you live in on a piece of paper must take up half the skool year...

peter hurd Dec 19, 2005 11:35 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

Sorry, never head of it!

Back at you.....

 

The Valley Vegan.................

Catch a bright star and a place it on your fore-headSay a few spells and baby, there you goTake a black cat and sit it on your shoulderAnd in the morning you'll know all you know, ohfraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote:

 

its called sarcasm...

and you ask wots wrong with me.... peter hurd Dec 19, 2005 11:11 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

Sad that you can make light of it, even if you are having a dig at that cola advert/firm.

 

The Valley Vegan.............fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote:

 

its ok, they can enjoy a coke.... peter hurd Dec 18, 2005 11:43 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sunday Times

December 18, 2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SCIENTISTS have for the first time found evidence that polar bears are drowning because climate change is melting the Arctic ice shelf. The researchers were startled to find bears having to swim up to 60 miles across open sea to find food. They are being forced into the long voyages because the ice floes from which they feed are melting, becoming smaller and drifting farther apart.

 

 

 

 

 

NI_MPU('middle'); Although polar bears are strong swimmers, they are adapted for swimming close to the shore. Their sea journeys leave them them vulnerable to exhaustion, hypothermia or being swamped by waves. According to the new research, four bear carcases were found floating in one month in a single patch of sea off the north coast of Alaska, where average summer temperatures have increased by 2-3C degrees since 1950s. The scientists believe such drownings are becoming widespread across the Arctic, an inevitable consequence of the doubling in the past 20 years of the proportion of polar bears having to swim in open seas. Mortalities due to offshore swimming may be a relatively important and unaccounted source of natural mortality given the energetic demands placed on individual bears engaged in long-distance swimming, says the research led by Dr Charles Monnett, marine ecologist at the American governments Minerals Management Service. Drowning-related deaths of polar bears may increase in the future if the observed trend of regression of pack ice continues. The research, presented to a conference on marine mammals in San Diego, California, last week, comes amid evidence of a decline in numbers of the 22,000 polar bears that live in about 20 sites across the Arctic circle. In Hudson Bay, Canada, the site of the most southerly polar bears, a study by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the Canadian Wildlife Service to be published next year will show the population fell 22% from 1,194 in 1987 to 935 last year. New evidence from field researchers working for the World Wildlife Fund in Yakutia, on the northeast coast of Russia, has also shown the regions first evidence of cannibalism among bears competing for food supplies. Polar bears live on ice all year round and use it as a platform from which to hunt food and rear their young. They hunt near the edge, where the ice is thinnest, catching seals when they make holes in the ice to breath. They typically eat one seal every four or five days and a single bear can consume 100lb of blubber at one sitting. As the ice pack retreats north in the summer between June and October, the bears must travel between ice floes to continue hunting in areas such as the shallow water of the continental shelf off the Alaskan coast one of the most food-rich areas in the Arctic. However, last summer the ice cap receded about 200 miles further north than the average of two decades ago, forcing the bears to undertake far longer voyages between floes. We know short swims up to 15 miles are no problem, and we know that one or two may have swum up to 100 miles. But that is the extent of their ability, and if they are trying to make such a long swim and they encounter rough seas they could get into trouble, said Steven Amstrup, a research wildlife biologist with the USGS. The new study, carried out in part of the Beaufort Sea, shows that between 1986 and 2005 just 4% of the bears spotted off the north coast of Alaska were swimming in open waters. Not a single drowning had been documented in the area. However, last September, when the ice cap had retreated a record 160 miles north of Alaska, 51 bears were spotted, of which 20% were seen in the open sea, swimming as far as 60 miles off shore. The researchers returned to the vicinity a few days later after a fierce storm and found four dead bears floating in the water. We estimate that of the order of 40 bears may have been swimming and that many of those probably drowned as a result of rough seas caused by high winds, said the report. In their search for food, polar bears are also having to roam further south, rummaging in the dustbins of Canadian homes. Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the explorer who has been to the North Pole seven times, said he had noticed a deterioration in the bears ice habitat since his first expedition in 1975. Each year there was more water than the time before, he said. We used amphibious sledges for the first time in 1986. His last expedition was in 2002, when he fell through the ice and lost some of his fingers to frostbite.

Peter H

 

 

 

To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Security Centre. To send an email to -

 

[Guest guest]

This is disgusting, how can we humans read this and continue driving out 4x4s

and

indulging in the overconsumption and selfish degradation of the environment,

constantly

taking over the countryside with our new luxury homes, holiday homes (of course

the

environmental impact of the construction industry is often overlooked), air

miles, allowing

accidents like Hemel Hempstead oil depot to happen... the list goes on...

somebody stop

me before I explode...

 

, " linda " <lindai81@c...> wrote:

>

> I read about this the other day...one of the organizations I belong to sent it

to

me...maybe Defenders of Wildlife. And I got stuff on the shooting of the

elephants from

several sources...let me see what else did I get this week that made me think

that the

human race wasn't as bad as it seemed...no wait a minute...I have that backwards

don't I?

Is that why I feel so sad? Truly sad. So I am trying at this moment to focus on

my little

loves here that I can impact. Sending letters, e-mailing, and signing petitions

is good too

and I won't stop doing that, but goddess, sometimes it seems so hopeless, this

slaughter

of life. My delete button still not working but my back spacer does for erasing.

Oops, I

spoke too soon...it's not working now either.

> linda

> " Whatever you do will be insignificant and it is very important that you do

it. "

> Mohandas Gandhi

>

> linda's Growing Stitchery Projects: womyn47

> -

> peter hurd

>

> Sunday, December 18, 2005 11:43 AM

> Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

>

>

>

>

>

> The Sunday Times December 18, 2005

>

>

>

> SCIENTISTS have for the first time found evidence

that polar bears are

drowning because climate change is melting the Arctic ice shelf.

> The researchers were startled to find bears having

to swim up to 60

miles across open sea to find food. They are being forced into the long voyages

because

the ice floes from which they feed are melting, becoming smaller and drifting

farther

apart.

>

>

> Although polar bears are strong swimmers, they are

adapted for

swimming close to the shore. Their sea journeys leave them them vulnerable to

exhaustion, hypothermia or being swamped by waves.

> According to the new research, four bear carcases

were found floating

in one month in a single patch of sea off the north coast of Alaska, where

average summer

temperatures have increased by 2-3C degrees since 1950s.

> The scientists believe such drownings are becoming

widespread across

the Arctic, an inevitable consequence of the doubling in the past 20 years of

the

proportion of polar bears having to swim in open seas.

> " Mortalities due to offshore swimming may be a

relatively important

and unaccounted source of natural mortality given the energetic demands placed

on

individual bears engaged in long-distance swimming, " says the research led by Dr

Charles

Monnett, marine ecologist at the American government's Minerals Management

Service.

" Drowning-related deaths of polar bears may increase in the future if the

observed trend

of regression of pack ice continues. "

> The research, presented to a conference on marine

mammals in San

Diego, California, last week, comes amid evidence of a decline in numbers of the

22,000

polar bears that live in about 20 sites across the Arctic circle.

> In Hudson Bay, Canada, the site of the most

southerly polar bears, a

study by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the Canadian Wildlife Service to be

published

next year will show the population fell 22% from 1,194 in 1987 to 935 last year.

> New evidence from field researchers working for the

World Wildlife

Fund in Yakutia, on the northeast coast of Russia, has also shown the region's

first

evidence of cannibalism among bears competing for food supplies.

> Polar bears live on ice all year round and use it as

a platform from

which to hunt food and rear their young. They hunt near the edge, where the ice

is

thinnest, catching seals when they make holes in the ice to breath. They

typically eat one

seal every four or five days and a single bear can consume 100lb of blubber at

one sitting.

> As the ice pack retreats north in the summer between

June and

October, the bears must travel between ice floes to continue hunting in areas

such as the

shallow water of the continental shelf off the Alaskan coast - one of the most

food-rich

areas in the Arctic.

> However, last summer the ice cap receded about 200

miles further

north than the average of two decades ago, forcing the bears to undertake far

longer

voyages between floes.

> " We know short swims up to 15 miles are no problem,

and we know

that one or two may have swum up to 100 miles. But that is the extent of their

ability, and

if they are trying to make such a long swim and they encounter rough seas they

could get

into trouble, " said Steven Amstrup, a research wildlife biologist with the USGS.

> The new study, carried out in part of the Beaufort

Sea, shows that

between 1986 and 2005 just 4% of the bears spotted off the north coast of Alaska

were

swimming in open waters. Not a single drowning had been documented in the area.

> However, last September, when the ice cap had

retreated a record 160

miles north of Alaska, 51 bears were spotted, of which 20% were seen in the open

sea,

swimming as far as 60 miles off shore.

> The researchers returned to the vicinity a few days

later after a fierce

storm and found four dead bears floating in the water. " We estimate that of the

order of

40 bears may have been swimming and that many of those probably drowned as a

result

of rough seas caused by high winds, " said the report.

> In their search for food, polar bears are also

having to roam further

south, rummaging in the dustbins of Canadian homes. Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the

explorer

who has been to the North Pole seven times, said he had noticed a deterioration

in the

bears' ice habitat since his first expedition in 1975.

> " Each year there was more water than the time

before, " he said. " We

used amphibious sledges for the first time in 1986. "

> His last expedition was in 2002, when he fell

through the ice and lost

some of his fingers to frostbite.

>

Peter H

>

>

>

>

----------

--

> To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new

Security

Centre.

>

> To send an email to -

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

It is so horrible it is impossible to wrap one's mind around it. Actually it helps to know that there are other people who feel the same way...

linda

"Whatever you do will be insignificant and it is very important that you do it."Mohandas Gandhi

 

herbvalerian

This is disgusting, how can we humans read this and continue driving out 4x4s and indulging in the overconsumption and selfish degradation of the environment, constantly taking over the countryside with our new luxury homes, holiday homes (of course the environmental impact of the construction industry is often overlooked), air miles, allowing accidents like Hemel Hempstead oil depot to happen... the list goes on... somebody stop me before I explode...

[Guest guest]

damn..do i cut the blue wire or thr red??!!!!!!

 

 

>herbvalerian <herbvalerian

>Dec 20, 2005 1:40 AM

>

> Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

>

>This is disgusting, how can we humans read this and continue driving out 4x4s

and

>indulging in the overconsumption and selfish degradation of the environment,

constantly

>taking over the countryside with our new luxury homes, holiday homes (of

course the

>environmental impact of the construction industry is often overlooked), air

miles, allowing

>accidents like Hemel Hempstead oil depot to happen... the list goes on...

somebody stop

>me before I explode...

>

 

 

What God had done for peace on earth, what man destroyed from day of birth

They are concerned with feelings; they're just ashamed to cry

And one mans plan to push the button makes other sacrifice

The serenade is dead and now the only question's why?

[Guest guest]

Sorry I thought you lived somewhere else. Same ammount of letters though? And as to spelling a sentance with an "A", well I am Welsh ( notice the capital?) I think you need to grow some hair for winter! The Valley Vegan.............fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote: lets see if i'm actually able to send this..dang earthlink so..maybe they count things differently in walesville... but hmm oakland....7 letters.... and..should i comment on sentence spelled with an a? teehee peter hurd Dec 19, 2005 11:58 AM Re:

Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts The name of my town is Bargoed! shorter than yours? And as for Welsh schooling, a fair point I suppose, although I do seem to compose sentances better than yourself, do I not? The Valley Vegan.............. Friends say it's fine, friends say it's goodEv'rybody says it's just like rock'n'rollMove like a cat, charge like a ramSting like I feel, babe I wanna be your manfraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote: oh the sad state of welsh skoolin well, i imagine you don't have time..i mean , writing the town you live in on a piece of paper must take up half the skool year... peter hurd Dec 19, 2005 11:35 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts Sorry, never head of it! Back at you..... The Valley Vegan................. Catch a bright star and a place it on your fore-headSay a few spells and baby, there you goTake a black cat and sit it on your shoulderAnd in the morning you'll know all you know, ohfraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote: its called sarcasm... and you ask wots wrong with me.... peter hurd Dec 19,

2005 11:11 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts Sad that you can make light of it, even if you are having a dig at that cola advert/firm. The Valley Vegan.............fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote: its ok, they can enjoy a coke.... peter hurd Dec 18, 2005 11:43 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts The Sunday Times December 18, 2005 SCIENTISTS have for the first time found evidence that polar bears are drowning because climate change is melting the Arctic ice

shelf. The researchers were startled to find bears having to swim up to 60 miles across open sea to find food. They are being forced into the long voyages because the ice floes from which they feed are melting, becoming smaller and drifting farther apart. NI_MPU('middle'); Although polar bears are strong swimmers, they are adapted for swimming close to the shore. Their sea journeys leave them them vulnerable to exhaustion, hypothermia or being swamped by waves. According to the new research, four bear carcases were found floating in one month in a single patch of sea off the north coast of Alaska, where average summer temperatures have increased by 2-3C degrees since 1950s. The scientists believe such drownings are

becoming widespread across the Arctic, an inevitable consequence of the doubling in the past 20 years of the proportion of polar bears having to swim in open seas. “Mortalities due to offshore swimming may be a relatively important and unaccounted source of natural mortality given the energetic demands placed on individual bears engaged in long-distance swimming,” says the research led by Dr Charles Monnett, marine ecologist at the American government’s Minerals Management Service. “Drowning-related deaths of polar bears may increase in the future if the observed trend of regression of pack ice continues.” The research, presented to a conference on marine mammals in San Diego, California, last week, comes amid evidence of a decline in numbers of the 22,000 polar bears that live in about 20 sites across the Arctic circle. In Hudson Bay, Canada, the site of the most southerly polar bears, a study by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the Canadian Wildlife Service

to be published next year will show the population fell 22% from 1,194 in 1987 to 935 last year. New evidence from field researchers working for the World Wildlife Fund in Yakutia, on the northeast coast of Russia, has also shown the region’s first evidence of cannibalism among bears competing for food supplies. Polar bears live on ice all year round and use it as a platform from which to hunt food and rear their young. They hunt near the edge, where the ice is thinnest, catching seals when they make holes in the ice to breath. They typically eat one seal every four or five days and a single bear can consume 100lb of blubber at one sitting. As the ice pack retreats north in the summer between June and October, the bears must travel between ice floes to continue hunting in areas such as the shallow water of the continental shelf off the Alaskan coast — one of the most food-rich areas in the Arctic. However, last summer the ice cap receded about 200 miles

further north than the average of two decades ago, forcing the bears to undertake far longer voyages between floes. “We know short swims up to 15 miles are no problem, and we know that one or two may have swum up to 100 miles. But that is the extent of their ability, and if they are trying to make such a long swim and they encounter rough seas they could get into trouble,” said Steven Amstrup, a research wildlife biologist with the USGS. The new study, carried out in part of the Beaufort Sea, shows that between 1986 and 2005 just 4% of the bears spotted off the north coast of Alaska were swimming in open waters. Not a single drowning had been documented in the area. However, last September, when the ice cap had retreated a record 160 miles north of Alaska, 51 bears were spotted, of which 20% were seen in the open sea, swimming as far as 60 miles off shore. The researchers returned to the vicinity a few days later after a fierce storm and found four dead

bears floating in the water. “We estimate that of the order of 40 bears may have been swimming and that many of those probably drowned as a result of rough seas caused by high winds,” said the report. In their search for food, polar bears are also having to roam further south, rummaging in the dustbins of Canadian homes. Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the explorer who has been to the North Pole seven times, said he had noticed a deterioration in the bears’ ice habitat since his first expedition in 1975. “Each year there was more water than the time before,” he said. “We used amphibious sledges for the first time in 1986.” His last expedition was in 2002, when he fell through the ice and lost some of his fingers to frostbite. Peter H To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Security Centre. To send an email to -

[Guest guest]

i thought you were peter? peter hurd Dec 20, 2005 10:31 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

Sorry I thought you lived somewhere else. Same ammount of letters though? And as to spelling a sentance with an "A", well I am Welsh ( notice the capital?)

I think you need to grow some hair for winter!

 

The Valley Vegan.............fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote:

 

lets see if i'm actually able to send this..dang earthlink

 

so..maybe they count things differently in walesville...

but

hmm

oakland....7 letters....

and..should i comment on sentence spelled with an a?

teehee peter hurd Dec 19, 2005 11:58 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

The name of my town is Bargoed! shorter than yours?

 

And as for Welsh schooling, a fair point I suppose, although I do seem to compose sentances better than yourself, do I not?

 

The Valley Vegan..............

Friends say it's fine, friends say it's goodEv'rybody says it's just like rock'n'rollMove like a cat, charge like a ramSting like I feel, babe I wanna be your manfraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote:

 

oh the sad state of welsh skoolin

well, i imagine you don't have time..i mean , writing the town you live in on a piece of paper must take up half the skool year...

peter hurd Dec 19, 2005 11:35 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

Sorry, never head of it!

Back at you.....

 

The Valley Vegan.................

Catch a bright star and a place it on your fore-headSay a few spells and baby, there you goTake a black cat and sit it on your shoulderAnd in the morning you'll know all you know, ohfraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote:

 

its called sarcasm...

and you ask wots wrong with me.... peter hurd Dec 19, 2005 11:11 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

Sad that you can make light of it, even if you are having a dig at that cola advert/firm.

 

The Valley Vegan.............fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote:

 

its ok, they can enjoy a coke.... peter hurd Dec 18, 2005 11:43 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sunday Times

December 18, 2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SCIENTISTS have for the first time found evidence that polar bears are drowning because climate change is melting the Arctic ice shelf. The researchers were startled to find bears having to swim up to 60 miles across open sea to find food. They are being forced into the long voyages because the ice floes from which they feed are melting, becoming smaller and drifting farther apart.

 

 

 

 

 

NI_MPU('middle'); Although polar bears are strong swimmers, they are adapted for swimming close to the shore. Their sea journeys leave them them vulnerable to exhaustion, hypothermia or being swamped by waves. According to the new research, four bear carcases were found floating in one month in a single patch of sea off the north coast of Alaska, where average summer temperatures have increased by 2-3C degrees since 1950s. The scientists believe such drownings are becoming widespread across the Arctic, an inevitable consequence of the doubling in the past 20 years of the proportion of polar bears having to swim in open seas. Mortalities due to offshore swimming may be a relatively important and unaccounted source of natural mortality given the energetic demands placed on individual bears engaged in long-distance swimming, says the research led by Dr Charles Monnett, marine ecologist at the American governments Minerals Management Service. Drowning-related deaths of polar bears may increase in the future if the observed trend of regression of pack ice continues. The research, presented to a conference on marine mammals in San Diego, California, last week, comes amid evidence of a decline in numbers of the 22,000 polar bears that live in about 20 sites across the Arctic circle. In Hudson Bay, Canada, the site of the most southerly polar bears, a study by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the Canadian Wildlife Service to be published next year will show the population fell 22% from 1,194 in 1987 to 935 last year. New evidence from field researchers working for the World Wildlife Fund in Yakutia, on the northeast coast of Russia, has also shown the regions first evidence of cannibalism among bears competing for food supplies. Polar bears live on ice all year round and use it as a platform from which to hunt food and rear their young. They hunt near the edge, where the ice is thinnest, catching seals when they make holes in the ice to breath. They typically eat one seal every four or five days and a single bear can consume 100lb of blubber at one sitting. As the ice pack retreats north in the summer between June and October, the bears must travel between ice floes to continue hunting in areas such as the shallow water of the continental shelf off the Alaskan coast one of the most food-rich areas in the Arctic. However, last summer the ice cap receded about 200 miles further north than the average of two decades ago, forcing the bears to undertake far longer voyages between floes. We know short swims up to 15 miles are no problem, and we know that one or two may have swum up to 100 miles. But that is the extent of their ability, and if they are trying to make such a long swim and they encounter rough seas they could get into trouble, said Steven Amstrup, a research wildlife biologist with the USGS. The new study, carried out in part of the Beaufort Sea, shows that between 1986 and 2005 just 4% of the bears spotted off the north coast of Alaska were swimming in open waters. Not a single drowning had been documented in the area. However, last September, when the ice cap had retreated a record 160 miles north of Alaska, 51 bears were spotted, of which 20% were seen in the open sea, swimming as far as 60 miles off shore. The researchers returned to the vicinity a few days later after a fierce storm and found four dead bears floating in the water. We estimate that of the order of 40 bears may have been swimming and that many of those probably drowned as a result of rough seas caused by high winds, said the report. In their search for food, polar bears are also having to roam further south, rummaging in the dustbins of Canadian homes. Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the explorer who has been to the North Pole seven times, said he had noticed a deterioration in the bears ice habitat since his first expedition in 1975. Each year there was more water than the time before, he said. We used amphibious sledges for the first time in 1986. His last expedition was in 2002, when he fell through the ice and lost some of his fingers to frostbite.

Peter H

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

You think too much , thats your downfall.............. The Valley Vegan.............fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote: i thought you were peter? peter hurd Dec 20, 2005 10:31 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts Sorry I thought you lived somewhere else. Same ammount of letters though? And as to spelling a sentance with an "A", well I am Welsh ( notice the capital?) I think you need to grow some hair for winter! The Valley Vegan.............fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote: lets see if i'm actually able to send this..dang earthlink so..maybe they count things differently in walesville... but hmm oakland....7 letters.... and..should i comment on sentence spelled with an a? teehee peter hurd Dec 19, 2005 11:58 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts The name of my town is Bargoed! shorter than yours? And as for Welsh schooling, a fair point I suppose, although I do seem to compose sentances better than yourself, do I not? The Valley Vegan.............. Friends say it's fine, friends say it's goodEv'rybody says it's just like rock'n'rollMove like a cat, charge like a ramSting like I feel, babe I wanna be your manfraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote: oh the sad state of welsh skoolin well, i imagine you don't have time..i mean , writing the town you live in on a piece of paper must take up half the skool year... peter hurd Dec 19, 2005 11:35 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts Sorry, never head of it! Back at you..... The Valley Vegan................. Catch a bright star and a place it on your fore-headSay a few spells and baby, there you goTake a black cat and sit it on your shoulderAnd in the morning you'll know all you know, ohfraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote: its called sarcasm... and you ask wots wrong with me.... peter hurd Dec 19, 2005 11:11 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts Sad that you can make light of it, even if you are having a dig at that cola advert/firm. The Valley Vegan.............fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote: its ok, they can enjoy a coke.... peter hurd Dec 18, 2005 11:43 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts The Sunday Times December 18, 2005 SCIENTISTS have for the first time found evidence that polar bears are drowning because climate change is melting the Arctic ice shelf. The researchers were startled to find bears having to swim up to 60 miles across open sea to find food. They are being forced into the long voyages because the ice floes from which they feed are melting, becoming smaller and drifting farther apart. NI_MPU('middle'); Although polar bears are strong swimmers, they are adapted for swimming close to the shore. Their sea journeys leave them them vulnerable to exhaustion, hypothermia or being swamped by waves. According to the new research, four bear carcases were found floating in one month in a single patch of sea off the north coast of Alaska, where average summer temperatures have increased by 2-3C degrees since 1950s. The scientists believe such drownings are becoming widespread across the Arctic, an inevitable consequence of the doubling in the past 20 years of the proportion of polar bears having to swim in open seas. “Mortalities due to offshore swimming may be a relatively important and unaccounted source of natural mortality given the energetic demands placed on individual bears engaged in long-distance swimming,” says

the research led by Dr Charles Monnett, marine ecologist at the American government’s Minerals Management Service. “Drowning-related deaths of polar bears may increase in the future if the observed trend of regression of pack ice continues.” The research, presented to a conference on marine mammals in San Diego, California, last week, comes amid evidence of a decline in numbers of the 22,000 polar bears that live in about 20 sites across the Arctic circle. In Hudson Bay, Canada, the site of the most southerly polar bears, a study by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the Canadian Wildlife Service to be published next year will show the population fell 22% from 1,194 in 1987 to 935 last year. New evidence from field researchers working for the World Wildlife Fund in Yakutia, on the northeast coast of Russia, has also shown the region’s first evidence of cannibalism among bears competing for food supplies. Polar bears live on ice all year round and use it

as a platform from which to hunt food and rear their young. They hunt near the edge, where the ice is thinnest, catching seals when they make holes in the ice to breath. They typically eat one seal every four or five days and a single bear can consume 100lb of blubber at one sitting. As the ice pack retreats north in the summer between June and October, the bears must travel between ice floes to continue hunting in areas such as the shallow water of the continental shelf off the Alaskan coast — one of the most food-rich areas in the Arctic. However, last summer the ice cap receded about 200 miles further north than the average of two decades ago, forcing the bears to undertake far longer voyages between floes. “We know short swims up to 15 miles are no problem, and we know that one or two may have swum up to 100 miles. But that is the extent of their ability, and if they are trying to make such a long swim and they encounter rough seas they could get into

trouble,” said Steven Amstrup, a research wildlife biologist with the USGS. The new study, carried out in part of the Beaufort Sea, shows that between 1986 and 2005 just 4% of the bears spotted off the north coast of Alaska were swimming in open waters. Not a single drowning had been documented in the area. However, last September, when the ice cap had retreated a record 160 miles north of Alaska, 51 bears were spotted, of which 20% were seen in the open sea, swimming as far as 60 miles off shore. The researchers returned to the vicinity a few days later after a fierce storm and found four dead bears floating in the water. “We estimate that of the order of 40 bears may have been swimming and that many of those probably drowned as a result of rough seas caused by high winds,” said the report. In their search for food, polar bears are also having to roam further south, rummaging in the dustbins of Canadian homes. Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the explorer who has

been to the North Pole seven times, said he had noticed a deterioration in the bears’ ice habitat since his first expedition in 1975. “Each year there was more water than the time before,” he said. “We used amphibious sledges for the first time in 1986.” His last expedition was in 2002, when he fell through the ice and lost some of his fingers to frostbite. Peter H To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Security Centre. To send an email to -

[Guest guest]

lucky us yanks think at all peter hurd Dec 20, 2005 10:56 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

You think too much , thats your downfall..............

 

The Valley Vegan.............fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote:

 

i thought you were peter? peter hurd Dec 20, 2005 10:31 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

Sorry I thought you lived somewhere else. Same ammount of letters though? And as to spelling a sentance with an "A", well I am Welsh ( notice the capital?)

I think you need to grow some hair for winter!

 

The Valley Vegan.............fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote:

 

lets see if i'm actually able to send this..dang earthlink

 

so..maybe they count things differently in walesville...

but

hmm

oakland....7 letters....

and..should i comment on sentence spelled with an a?

teehee

What God had done for peace on earth, what man destroyed from day of birth They are concerned with feelings; they're just ashamed to cry And one mans plan to push the button makes other sacrifice The serenade is dead and now the only question's why?

[Guest guest]

Shame there arent any purer thoughts though eh? What is it you have against the Canadians anyhoo? they always seem to be the butt of your jokes on sitcomms etc? The Valley Vegan..............fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote: lucky us yanks think at all peter hurd Dec 20, 2005 10:56 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts You think too much , thats your downfall.............. The Valley Vegan.............fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote: i thought you were peter? peter hurd Dec 20, 2005 10:31 AM Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts Sorry I thought you lived somewhere else. Same ammount of letters though? And as to spelling a sentance with an "A", well I am Welsh ( notice the capital?) I think you need to grow some hair for winter! The Valley Vegan.............fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote: lets see if i'm actually able to send this..dang earthlink so..maybe they

count things differently in walesville... but hmm oakland....7 letters.... and..should i comment on sentence spelled with an a? teehee What God had done for peace on earth, what man destroyed from day of birth They are concerned with feelings; they're just ashamed to cry And one mans plan to push the button makes other sacrifice The serenade is dead and now the only question's why? Peter H

 

Messenger NEW - crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail

[Guest guest]

Do you speak Welsh?

prynhawn da

sut mae?

hwyl!!!

 

I learned a bit whilst at college in North Wales. I had a Welsh speaking

landlady and the

old dears next door spoke it too. If you write back in Welsh I may not

understand as I only

learned basic phrases and traffic signals.

 

-- In , peter hurd

<swpgh01@t...> wrote:

>

> Sorry I thought you lived somewhere else. Same ammount of letters though? And

as to

spelling a sentance with an " A " , well I am Welsh ( notice the capital?)

>

> I think you need to grow some hair for winter!

>

> The Valley Vegan.............

> fraggle <EBbrewpunx@e...> wrote:

> lets see if i'm actually able to send this..dang earthlink

>

> so..maybe they count things differently in walesville...

> but

> hmm

> oakland....7 letters....

>

> and..should i comment on sentence spelled with an a?

> teehee

>

>

>

> peter hurd

> Dec 19, 2005 11:58 AM

>

> Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

>

>

> The name of my town is Bargoed! shorter than yours?

>

> And as for Welsh schooling, a fair point I suppose, although I do seem to

compose

sentances better than yourself, do I not?

>

> The Valley Vegan..............

> Friends say it's fine, friends say it's good

> Ev'rybody says it's just like rock'n'roll

> Move like a cat, charge like a ram

> Sting like I feel, babe I wanna be your man

>

>

> fraggle <EBbrewpunx@e...> wrote:

> oh the sad state of welsh skoolin

> well, i imagine you don't have time..i mean , writing the town you live in

on a piece of

paper must take up half the skool year...

>

>

>

>

> peter hurd

> Dec 19, 2005 11:35 AM

>

> Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

>

>

> Sorry, never head of it!

> Back at you.....

>

> The Valley Vegan.................

> Catch a bright star and a place it on your fore-head

> Say a few spells and baby, there you go

> Take a black cat and sit it on your shoulder

> And in the morning you'll know all you know, oh

>

>

> fraggle <EBbrewpunx@e...> wrote:

> its called sarcasm...

> and you ask wots wrong with me....

>

>

>

> peter hurd

> Dec 19, 2005 11:11 AM

>

> Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

>

>

> Sad that you can make light of it, even if you are having a dig at that cola

advert/firm.

>

> The Valley Vegan.............

>

> fraggle <EBbrewpunx@e...> wrote:

> its ok, they can enjoy a coke....

>

>

>

> peter hurd

> Dec 18, 2005 11:43 AM

>

> Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

>

>

> The Sunday Times December 18, 2005 SCIENTISTS have for

the first time

found evidence that polar bears are drowning because climate change is melting

the Arctic

ice shelf. The researchers were startled to find bears having to swim up to 60

miles

across open sea to find food. They are being forced into the long voyages

because the ice

floes from which they feed are melting, becoming smaller and drifting farther

apart.

NI_MPU('middle'); Although polar bears are strong swimmers, they are adapted for

swimming close to the shore. Their sea journeys leave them them vulnerable to

exhaustion, hypothermia or being swamped by waves. According to the new

research,

four bear carcases were found floating in one month in a single patch of sea off

the north

coast of Alaska, where average summer temperatures have increased by 2-3C

degrees

since 1950s. The scientists believe such drownings are becoming widespread

across the

Arctic, an inevitable consequence

> of the doubling in the past 20 years of the proportion of polar bears having

to swim in

open seas. " Mortalities due to offshore swimming may be a relatively important

and

unaccounted source of natural mortality given the energetic demands placed on

individual

bears engaged in long-distance swimming, " says the research led by Dr Charles

Monnett,

marine ecologist at the American government's Minerals Management Service.

" Drowning-

related deaths of polar bears may increase in the future if the observed trend

of regression

of pack ice continues. " The research, presented to a conference on marine

mammals in

San Diego, California, last week, comes amid evidence of a decline in numbers of

the

22,000 polar bears that live in about 20 sites across the Arctic circle. In

Hudson Bay,

Canada, the site of the most southerly polar bears, a study by the US Geological

Survey

(USGS) and the Canadian Wildlife Service to be published next year will show the

population fell 22% from 1,194 in 1987

> to 935 last year. New evidence from field researchers working for the World

Wildlife

Fund in Yakutia, on the northeast coast of Russia, has also shown the region's

first

evidence of cannibalism among bears competing for food supplies. Polar bears

live on ice

all year round and use it as a platform from which to hunt food and rear their

young. They

hunt near the edge, where the ice is thinnest, catching seals when they make

holes in the

ice to breath. They typically eat one seal every four or five days and a single

bear can

consume 100lb of blubber at one sitting. As the ice pack retreats north in the

summer

between June and October, the bears must travel between ice floes to continue

hunting in

areas such as the shallow water of the continental shelf off the Alaskan coast —

one of the

most food-rich areas in the Arctic. However, last summer the ice cap receded

about 200

miles further north than the average of two decades ago, forcing the bears to

undertake

far longer voyages

> between floes. " We know short swims up to 15 miles are no problem, and we

know

that one or two may have swum up to 100 miles. But that is the extent of their

ability, and

if they are trying to make such a long swim and they encounter rough seas they

could get

into trouble, " said Steven Amstrup, a research wildlife biologist with the USGS.

The new

study, carried out in part of the Beaufort Sea, shows that between 1986 and 2005

just 4%

of the bears spotted off the north coast of Alaska were swimming in open waters.

Not a

single drowning had been documented in the area. However, last September, when

the

ice cap had retreated a record 160 miles north of Alaska, 51 bears were spotted,

of which

20% were seen in the open sea, swimming as far as 60 miles off shore. The

researchers

returned to the vicinity a few days later after a fierce storm and found four

dead bears

floating in the water. " We estimate that of the order of 40 bears may have been

swimming

and that many of those

> probably drowned as a result of rough seas caused by high winds, " said the

report. In

their search for food, polar bears are also having to roam further south,

rummaging in the

dustbins of Canadian homes. Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the explorer who has been to

the North

Pole seven times, said he had noticed a deterioration in the bears' ice habitat

since his first

expedition in 1975. " Each year there was more water than the time before, " he

said. " We

used amphibious sledges for the first time in 1986. " His last expedition was

in 2002,

when he fell through the ice and lost some of his fingers to frostbite.

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

Peter H

>

>

>

> To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new

Security

Centre.

>

> To send an email to -

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Na, dydw `I ddim yn siarad Cymraeg. Sad to say I probably only know as much as you. That is one of the reasons North Waleans look down their noses on South Waleans. The Valley Vegan...................herbvalerian <herbvalerian wrote: Do you speak Welsh?prynhawn dasut mae?hwyl!!!I learned a bit whilst at college in North Wales. I had a Welsh speaking landlady and the old dears next door spoke it too. If you write back in Welsh I may not understand as I only learned basic phrases and traffic signals.-- In , peter hurd wrote:>> Sorry I thought you lived somewhere else. Same ammount of letters though? And as to spelling a sentance with an "A", well I am Welsh ( notice the

capital?)> > I think you need to grow some hair for winter!> > The Valley Vegan.............> fraggle wrote:> lets see if i'm actually able to send this..dang earthlink> > so..maybe they count things differently in walesville...> but> hmm> oakland....7 letters....> > and..should i comment on sentence spelled with an a?> teehee> > > > peter hurd > Dec 19, 2005 11:58 AM > > Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts > > > The name of my town is Bargoed! shorter than yours?> > And as for Welsh schooling, a fair point I suppose, although I do seem to compose sentances better than yourself, do I not?> > The Valley Vegan..............> Friends say it's fine, friends say it's

good> Ev'rybody says it's just like rock'n'roll> Move like a cat, charge like a ram> Sting like I feel, babe I wanna be your man> > > fraggle wrote:> oh the sad state of welsh skoolin> well, i imagine you don't have time..i mean , writing the town you live in on a piece of paper must take up half the skool year...> > > > > peter hurd > Dec 19, 2005 11:35 AM > > Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts > > > Sorry, never head of it!> Back at you.....> > The Valley Vegan.................> Catch a bright star and a place it on your fore-head> Say a few spells and baby, there you go> Take a black cat and sit it on your shoulder> And in the morning you'll know all you know, oh> >

> fraggle wrote:> its called sarcasm...> and you ask wots wrong with me....> > > > peter hurd > Dec 19, 2005 11:11 AM > > Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts > > > Sad that you can make light of it, even if you are having a dig at that cola advert/firm.> > The Valley Vegan.............> > fraggle wrote:> its ok, they can enjoy a coke....> > > > peter hurd > Dec 18, 2005 11:43 AM > > Re: Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts > > > The Sunday Times December 18, 2005 SCIENTISTS have for the first time found evidence that polar bears are drowning because climate change is

melting the Arctic ice shelf. The researchers were startled to find bears having to swim up to 60 miles across open sea to find food. They are being forced into the long voyages because the ice floes from which they feed are melting, becoming smaller and drifting farther apart. NI_MPU('middle'); Although polar bears are strong swimmers, they are adapted for swimming close to the shore. Their sea journeys leave them them vulnerable to exhaustion, hypothermia or being swamped by waves. According to the new research, four bear carcases were found floating in one month in a single patch of sea off the north coast of Alaska, where average summer temperatures have increased by 2-3C degrees since 1950s. The scientists believe such drownings are becoming widespread across the Arctic, an inevitable consequence> of the doubling in the past 20 years of the proportion of polar bears having to swim in open seas. "Mortalities due to offshore

swimming may be a relatively important and unaccounted source of natural mortality given the energetic demands placed on individual bears engaged in long-distance swimming," says the research led by Dr Charles Monnett, marine ecologist at the American government's Minerals Management Service. "Drowning-related deaths of polar bears may increase in the future if the observed trend of regression of pack ice continues." The research, presented to a conference on marine mammals in San Diego, California, last week, comes amid evidence of a decline in numbers of the 22,000 polar bears that live in about 20 sites across the Arctic circle. In Hudson Bay, Canada, the site of the most southerly polar bears, a study by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the Canadian Wildlife Service to be published next year will show the population fell 22% from 1,194 in 1987> to 935 last year. New evidence from field researchers working for the World Wildlife

Fund in Yakutia, on the northeast coast of Russia, has also shown the region's first evidence of cannibalism among bears competing for food supplies. Polar bears live on ice all year round and use it as a platform from which to hunt food and rear their young. They hunt near the edge, where the ice is thinnest, catching seals when they make holes in the ice to breath. They typically eat one seal every four or five days and a single bear can consume 100lb of blubber at one sitting. As the ice pack retreats north in the summer between June and October, the bears must travel between ice floes to continue hunting in areas such as the shallow water of the continental shelf off the Alaskan coast — one of the most food-rich areas in the Arctic. However, last summer the ice cap receded about 200 miles further north than the average of two decades ago, forcing the bears to undertake far longer voyages> between floes. "We know short swims up

to 15 miles are no problem, and we know that one or two may have swum up to 100 miles. But that is the extent of their ability, and if they are trying to make such a long swim and they encounter rough seas they could get into trouble," said Steven Amstrup, a research wildlife biologist with the USGS. The new study, carried out in part of the Beaufort Sea, shows that between 1986 and 2005 just 4% of the bears spotted off the north coast of Alaska were swimming in open waters. Not a single drowning had been documented in the area. However, last September, when the ice cap had retreated a record 160 miles north of Alaska, 51 bears were spotted, of which 20% were seen in the open sea, swimming as far as 60 miles off shore. The researchers returned to the vicinity a few days later after a fierce storm and found four dead bears floating in the water. "We estimate that of the order of 40 bears may have been swimming and that many of those>

probably drowned as a result of rough seas caused by high winds," said the report. In their search for food, polar bears are also having to roam further south, rummaging in the dustbins of Canadian homes. Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the explorer who has been to the North Pole seven times, said he had noticed a deterioration in the bears' ice habitat since his first expedition in 1975. "Each year there was more water than the time before," he said. "We used amphibious sledges for the first time in 1986." His last expedition was in 2002, when he fell through the ice and lost some of his fingers to frostbite.> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Peter H > > > > To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Security Centre.

> > To send an email to - > > > >