Global Warming: It's Not Just the Polar Bears That Are Threatened

For climate change, the poster child is the polar bear. As depicted in Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth we see an animation of a tiring bear swimming in the arctic and vainly searching for the sea ice that will be its safe haven. With less and less sea ice, the environment in which the polar bear hunts its prey, the seal, it is going to prove quite difficult for this species to survive.

            The polar bear’s range extends through millions of square miles through North America, Europe, and Asia. That a species with such a large range, with thousands of individuals, could be threatened by climate change is a tragedy.

            The greater tragedy is that the polar bear is only one of the wonderful creatures whose existence is threatened by a warmer world. National Geographic shows us thousands upon thousand of walruses crowded together on an island, a sight that is growing more common as northern sea is reduced by global warming. Because the walrus habitat is literally melting away, their numbers are in decline. Under the Endangered Species Act the species is listed as threatened and soon may be listed as endangered.

            The resulting crowding from the loss of habitat further exacerbates the plight of the Pacific walrus. Animals that get frightened by something like a helicopter could start a stampede, crushing other walruses. Close proximity to other individuals can also lead to diseases being spread more quickly and easily.

            There has also been a die-off of moose in North America, and global warming may be a big piece of the puzzle behind this phenomenon. In New Hampshire a longer fall season and less snow in the winter has lead to an increase in the number of winter ticks. These parasites can seriously affect the health of a moose. Some of the large mammals can be plagued with as many as 100,000 ticks. The moose can loose so much blood that they become anemic. Moose are not adapted to dealing with such heavy tick populations. They scratch the ticks and can tear off large patches of hair. With the hair loss moose can experience hypothermia when it rains in the spring.

            On the other hand, winters are warmer and shorter across the range of the moose. This warmth may be contributing to the moose mortality. Being adapted to the cold, they expend extra energy to stay cool in the warmer weather, which exhausts the animals and can lead to death.

            Scientists are still looking into other factors, such as hunting and the presence of wolves that may be leading to the decline of the moose.