Polar Bears // Current

Ocean Pollutants May Be Cause of Increasing Cancers of Ocean Mammals

At a recent sea life gala in Anchorage, Alaska, Jean Michel-Cousteau, the ocean conservationist and son of well-known ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, reignited the issue of ocean pollutants causing cancer among beluga whales. The problem was first reported on in the 1980s when scientists discovered that the beluga whale population in the St. Lawrence rivers and runoffs in Canada were declining at an alarming rate due to what scientists speculated to be caused by pollution.

According to a 1988 article from The New York Times, “pollution from industrial activity along the St. Lawrence River and its tributaries, including the Great Lakes, is causing disease, premature death and a declining birth rate among the white beluga whales.”

Scientists had thoroughly investigated the beluga whale population in the St. Lawrence area, but today, the beluga whale population is at an all time low again and they still suffer from toxins and the onset of cancers. A New York Times national briefing reported in January that “the number of beluga whales in Cook Inlet is again declining.” According to the article, the beluga whales were put on the Endangered Species Act in 2009 because of the possibility of extinction, but that “the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report shows the numbers have slipped again to 321 animals, down from an estimated 375 in 2007 and 2008.”

Similar pollutions among other various ocean mammals have been discovered in recent years as well. In Norway, for example, whale meat was found to contain dangerously high levels of toxins. CNN reported that a “study by the International Whaling Commission determined levels of contamination among some marine mammals are so high that the animals would be classified as hazardous waste sites if they were on land.”

Science Daily also reported that orcas and killer whales around the world, especially in Canada, where a recent study was conducted, may face major health issues and endangerment over the next several years due to contamination with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

Scientists have speculated that due to chemical and other pollution runoffs, there is a list of at least ten ocean mammals that are at an increasing risk for developing pollution-related illnesses including cancers. The list includes the following:

Sea Lions
Polar Bears
Bottlenose dolphins
Beluga Whales
Orca
Risso’s dolphins
Harbor Seals
Common dolphins
Gray Seal
Mediterranean monk seals

While there are several grassroots organizations working on a small scale to reduce the number of pollutants in the ocean, the issue remains that a large-scale movement must be initiated. Some, including Cousteau, are attempting to bring attention to the issue in hopes that by highlighting the problem, a solution can be found. “The message is the fact that we are using the ocean as a garbage can by dumping things we don’t see — such as chemicals and heavy metals — into the environment,” reported Cousteau in a recent Q&A with Time magazine.At a recent sea life gala in Anchorage, Alaska, Jean Michel-Cousteau, the ocean... more

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When polar bears attack... other polar bears

The town of Churchill, Manitoba is the undisputed polar bear capital of the world. Every year from mid-October to late November, the town's 800 permanent residents are joined by a total of 12,000 visitors and seasonal workers, who take advantage of a unique opportunity to watch the world's largest bear species up close and personal.

The sea ice on Hudson Bay, on the coast of which Churchill is situated, melts completely every summer, forcing the bay's polar bears ashore en masse. There, they wait out the warm months in cool, earthen dens, and then, come the fall, they head back to the shores of the bay, waiting for the water to freeze again. As they journey to the coast and as they anticipate freeze-up, some wander through or past Churchill, or onto nearby tundra, in plain view of excited, camera-toting tourists.

The bears' easy accessibility also makes them an ideal population for scientists to study; nearby Cape Churchill has yielded an especially rich catalog of bear behaviors.

But no tourist or researcher at Churchill or environs during fall bear season has previously recorded the scene described here by JoAnne Simerson of San Diego Zoo:

"On November 20 here in Churchill, just east of Gordon Point, we saw the tragic loss of a 11-month-old cub and the grieving of the loss by its mother. We did not witness the actual death but the aftermath: a young adult female with her cub was attacked by an adult male polar bear. The female lost the battle as the large male overpowered her and killed her cub. Valiantly she charged him and tried to get her cub back, but it was too late.

Soon other bears arrived in the area, but the large male prevailed and began to consume the small body in a hill of willow bushes. Still the mother continued to wander the area with every hope of saving her cub. The male eventually moved the small body out to the coast where the mother had less opportunity to charge him, but he left much of the pelt behind.

The mother continued to circle the male, risking even more harm from the other bears gathering if not from the male. Eventually she moved back to the willows, desperately searching for her cub. What she found was the pelt. She picked the pelt up in her mouth, carrying it and swinging her head side to side, a behavior that bears do in extreme stress. The mother charged at the other bears, never dropping her precious possession. She wandered in this manner for a long time. We left her at dark still very unsettled, but she had finally placed her cub’s remains near a willow bush, protected from the wind."

Cases of polar bear cannibalism are not without precedent. However, there are very few documented cases in which one polar bear has killed and then consumed another; this paper describes three cases that took place within a very short period of each other on the north coast of Alaska a few years ago, but, as far as is known, much of the cannibalism that has been seen may just as likely have been of bears that had already died. Even then, known instances are very rare.

Part of the reason for that is that, when it comes to others of their kind, polar bears are quite risk-averse; as if aware of the damage they could do to each other, they seemingly never fight outside of the breeding season, when clashes can be quite severe. A polar bear would have to be extremely hungry indeed - particularly given the relatively low nutritional benefit involved - to tempt fate and a protective mother by making a move for a cub. It seems likely that it would be something of greater occurrence during times of food stress, when their true prey - ringed and bearded seals - are unavailable.

This year, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, fall sea ice levels on Hudson Bay are far lower than normal; with sea ice forming much later than usual, some of the Churchill bears, having already fasted over the summer, may have been more desperate for sustenance. Although the incident described by JoAnne was the only one in which the kill (or its immediate aftermath) was documented, researchers have reported as many as eight cases of cannibalism near Hudson Bay this fall.

more at the linkThe town of Churchill, Manitoba is the undisputed polar bear capital of the world.... more

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When Polar Bears Attack

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TAGS

tagged w/ Polar Bears

Ocean Pollutants May Be Cause of Increasing Cancers of Ocean Mammals

Polar bear droppings advance superbug debate

New Federal Studies: Alaskan Polar Bear and Walrus in Trouble

Saving Endangered Species - What Has [& Hasn't] Worked

Current Green's Top 5 Virals of 2009

When polar bears attack... other polar bears

Will Melting Polar Ice Bears Stay Afloat In Our Consciousness?

Reuters says polar bears eating each other because of global warming

Obama's Climate Change Battle with U.S. Public

A Jet Airliner’s Steadily Increasing Whine, While Polar Bears Plummet to Bloody Deaths

The First Climate-Gate Casualty

Man survives adorable polar bear attack

Starving polar bears turn to cannibalism

Gruesome TV ad Attacks Commercial Airlines

Polar Bear Against Climate Change

When Polar Bears Attack

Plane Stupid ad: Polar bears falling from the sky

Polar Bear Habitat to be Protected

Forget about healthcare, we have to save us some Polar Bears!

Arctic to be ice free in summer – Consequences for polar bears

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