This devastating photo of an emaciated polar bear presents us with yet another ugly view of a climate-changed future. Just this August, wildlife photographer Kerstin Langenberger captured this heartbreaking image off the shores of Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean.
The islands that compose the archipelago are home to one of the world’s largest populations of polar bears. But as rising temperatures melt sea ice, polar bears’ natural environment for seal hunting also diminishes, leaving the bears to hunt for less abundant food sources on land such as snow geese and caribou. Such a shift in diet disrupts the entire Arctic food chain — and can leave the bears quite hungry, as seen above.
Said Dr. Ian Stirling, an Adjunct Professor at the University of Alberta and a member of Scientific Advisory Council at Polar Bears International, in an interview, “[Polar bears are] kind of in the worst situation in an evolutionary sense. They’re large mammals and they’re very highly specialised to very specific ecological requirements. If the ecology changes, especially if it happens quickly, there’s just simply no time for the bears to even try and adapt. They can’t go out and swim in the open water and catch [seals] so they need that ice and that’s why the ice is critical.”
I have seen a lot of pictures of polar bears in my time, but I have NEVER seen anything like this.
We are several decades late in taking climate change seriously, and one can only hope that now when we are finally starting to respond in a significant manner that it is not too late for some of our fellow inhabitants.
But sadly I think that it might be.
Update: There are some claiming the picture is photoshopped, but it is not.
The a-holes on the right don't care. One less species to stand in the way of "resource development".
ReplyDeleteI'm serious, they don't give a fuck.
Agree.
DeleteYep, it says so right in the bible... "Man has dominion over the animals." So fuck 'em.
DeleteAlso, polar bears like all other animals do get old, sick, and/or injured. Those are all possibilities.
ReplyDeleteSo true. Planets also come and go. Oh, well.
DeleteAnd trolls, like some people, get dementia from watching Fox Noise, pretending the sky is not blue, and that the Earth is flat. So sorry that Sarah's Channel is now gone, but really, we don't want you here.
Delete6:32 that's very true and there's no way for us know this particular bear's story. But the fact remains; climate change is wreaking havoc all around us and we have got to change our ways for the sake of generations to come. Period. One very simple way that we can all play a role is vote out all Republicans. Easy Peasy.
Delete7:19
DeleteNot a troll, dumbass. Merely, pointing out other possibilities. I didn't say it wasn't starving to death due to habitat destruction. Try opening your mind to possibilities instead of being so close-minded.
Comments like those coming from 7:19 make this site less interesting to me. Let's not let it become as crazy and close-minded as c4p.
DeleteThis isn't a result of being old or sick.
DeleteThe photographer believes the injury may have been sustained because the bear tried to kill a walrus because it was starving to death.
She's seen the carcasses of dead polar bears that were emaciated. They are dying of starvation because of us.
Climate change has taken away their food source by changing their habitat so drastically they cannot hunt.
And the extinction is hurried along by the males eating the young and the females being the ones to die of starvation.
That poor bear needs a meal. I vote we feed it Sarah and Bristol.
ReplyDeleteAre you trying to kill it?
Deleteone can only hope that now when we are finally starting to respond in a significant manner that it is not too late for some of our fellow inhabitants.
ReplyDelete------------
There is no way we can stop what is happening. We have accelerated the change in the climate and stopping all man made pollution immediately, as if we could, would take generations to make a difference. Many species don't have generations, and since we all live in this "circle of life" it will effect all of us, both plant and animal.
Sorry for the seriousness but I live in a family of very worried scientists. Please support those in the government and those running who see the need to do what we can NOW. Politics right now is so much more important than just watching and laughing at the clowns. Vote, vote vote!
Mildred
And, don't vote for a Republican!
DeleteThat bear is obviously a loser. I prefer bears who are winners and don't starve to death, so I have no sympathy for a loser bear who won't work hard enough to find something to eat. No handouts for lazy losers. Vote Trump and loser bears will get what they deserve....nothing! He'll make the arctic great again! Details will be provided later, but not really because only really stupid losers get bogged down with actual details.
ReplyDeleteHa!! Perfection.
DeleteI wonder how GOP members of Congress would react to that photo. I find it heartbreaking.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
Beaglemom it is heartbreaking. I would guess half the members of congress could not identify her species. We're living in a world full of delusional people, where merely thinking something makes it so.
DeleteThey'lol question it's authenticity. They will write it off as a fluke.
DeleteThe Con bots here in Canada got their hair on fire over Naomi Klein's manifesto.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal/environmental-manifesto-unveiled-by-naomi-klein-backed-by-celebrities-1.3228920
The photo of that bear just breaks my heart! I am one that does worry for our planet!
ReplyDeleteNever seen anything like this either. These bears always have ample fat and this shows something is off kilter.
ReplyDeleteThe mainstream news don't report on the mass animal die-offs around the world, nor the marine animals beached on every coastline this past year. They don't report on why tropical marine life and birds are finding their way in the Northern hemisphere, or Arctic birds and fish showing up in warm waters, or deep sea fish dying in shallow waters. Just last year our beach had hundreds of pancake jelly fish, stranded. Sources will always say it's normal, or happens every few years, where currents can change patterns, but these sightings tell a much larger tale.
Our media sucks in the USA. You can't believe a damned thing they project.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else sick and tired of hearing about the Republican debate? I turned my TV off and it will be like that for the entire day.
The researcher who took this photo said it was an injured bear, probably from trying to get a walrus or fighting another bear for food. She also said she has seen a couple others like this over the last few years. Anyway - just to point out that it is not simply starving, but hunger probably did create the predicament.
ReplyDeleteFor someone who claims he doesn't want to objectify women, Gryphen sure did promote Mercede's Playboy pictorial.
ReplyDelete???
DeleteYou're still upset that Mercede was in Playboy, eh Bristol? Hey, you got to wear a gorilla suit on DWTS, so there's always that.
DeleteR in NC
wrong thread, sweet cheeks. Mercedes posed for playboy and got her point across, Bristol posed for tabloids and said she's engaged to marry Levi, etc etc etc all lies.
DeleteBristol could never pose for playboy.Pregnant horses do nothing for men or horses for that matter.
my cousin got eaten by a skinny hungry polar bear,about 20 years ago,family track the bear and dispose.
ReplyDeleteShe's not a researcher, she's a photographer. Yes it's a sad picture. but to draw larger conclusions from it is not science. It is the same as saying the divine hand of the Creator is evident in the perfection and balance of an oak tree. Climate change is real, we just don't need to declare evidence of it in every picture of a sad skinny bear. Doing so (and then having it disproven) only gives the deniers another argument.
ReplyDeleteJust because she doesn't have a piece of paper is no reason to dismiss her observations.
DeleteShe's very familiar with the area, goes back each year.
And this isn't the only emaciated bear she's seen.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to draw some conclusions.
No ice, no food, starving bears.
She says the males are in better shape. One reason, they can eat the young that the female bears can't defend.
She said most of the starving bears are female bears.
The doubles down on the extinction rate for the polar bears. No young and females dying.
We'll see them gone in our lifetime.
Man's hubris.
The only elephants, rhinos, lions, leopards and tigers will be dwindling populations in zoos. Then they'll be gone too.
and on that cheery note...........
DeleteGryphen,
DeleteOT
Dawkins just got the gold crown in assholery, I'm sorry to say. Apparently, he has also made some blatant Islamophobic comments. I didn't have time to research. Read the comments.
http://gawker.com/priorities-confused-1731919698