Minnesota's Moose Population Down By 50% Since 2006 - Rapid Climate Change Among Likely Factors
Researchers are linking northern Minnesota’s rapidly declining moose population with climate change, and preventing the iconic animal’s extinction may prove exceptionally difficult, Scientific American reported. Recent aerial surveys in the state’s northeastern corner found 4,230 animals, or less than half the number counted in 2006.
“It’s very hard to identify in the field exactly what an animal is dying from,” retired researcher Mark Lenarz told Scientific American. “We know something about the symptoms, but we don’t necessarily know the exact causes of mortality.” Scientists said hotter summers, warmer winters and “favorable conditions” for ticks, parasites and invasive species are contributing to the drop.
Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources started tracking 150 healthy adult moose in 2002, and watched 119 of the animals die from unknown causes.
This isn’t the first example scientists have documented, either. Moose populations declined to less than 100 animals from 4,000 in the state’s northwest over a 20-year period beginning in the 1980s, Scientific American said.
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http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/120522/minnesota-moose-decline-linked-climate-change
