Environment & Energy
Related: About this forum10,000 Walrus Come Ashore in Northwest Alaska
Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Friday photographed walrus packed onto a beach on a barrier island near Point Lay, an Inupiat Eskimo village 300 miles southwest of Barrow and 700 miles northwest of Anchorage.
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Young animals are especially vulnerable to stampedes triggered by a polar bear, a human hunter or a low-flying airplane. The carcasses of more than 130 mostly young walruses were counted after a stampede in September 2009 at Alaska's Icy Cape.
The gathering of walrus on shore is a phenomenon that has accompanied the loss of summer sea ice as the climate has warmed.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/10000-walrus-ashore-northwest-alaska-20436625
OnlinePoker
(5,725 posts)At least according to NSIDC. Ice right now is just about exactly along the average extent lines.
http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/
stuntcat
(12,022 posts)And who'd blame 'em?! Am I right or am I right?
It's not where their food is, and predators will nom their babies, but changes in their ice surely can't have anything to do with it.
But oops I'm sorry for "their", they aren't in possession of that ice where they live, they're just dumb animals! Well at least they're smart enough to know how great a nice beach is
Maybe all the animals up there will move to land when they figure out no matter where they go a giant ship could be breaking through. Some of them need to hurry and grow legs though! and mighty mighty brains like us humans possess.
NickB79
(19,258 posts)I'd imagine it would take pretty thick ice floes to support the weight of so many large animals.
The ice extent may be close to normal in this area, but if it's all 1-year old, thin ice, it's pretty much useless for them.