Defenders Magazine

Wild Life: As the World Warms, Walruses Weep

© Phil Alatalo/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

As the World Warms, Walruses Weep

Scientists charting rising temperatures in the Bering Sea recently released heart-wrenching evidence of what appears to be one of the cruelest impacts of global warming on wildlife: abandoned baby walruses.

Aboard a U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker, the researchers counted nine lone, crying calves in a 24-hour period in the summer of 2004. The number is unprecedented given that mothers generally remain with their calves for two years, says Carin Ashjian, a biologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and a member of the team that released the results of its three-year study in April.

Adult walruses use sea-ice platforms to rest between dives for food. The research team, which found water temperatures in the Bering Sea up six degrees since 2002, believes that because ice only remained over deep water, the adults were forced to travel farther in search of prey and became separated from their young. The baby walruses may have followed their mothers far out into the ocean or were left waiting on ice chunks that floated out to sea and then melted. Unable to hunt for themselves, the calves most likely starved or drowned.

"We're hoping we've raised awareness and that other researchers working in the sea will note if they see something similar going on," says Ashjian. "Over time we can build up a record to find out if this is a reoccurring event or if the 2004 ice melt we recorded was unique."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is currently wrapping up an extensive population survey of Bering Sea walruses that will help in this task. The service's Rosa Meehan says, "We're trying to tie down the basic bits of information--like how many walruses there actually are--so that we have a point in time and a number that will allow us to follow these issues and see if climate change is affecting them."

Howling up the Wrong Tree

Even if some ranchers still believe in the "big, bad wolf," programs to kill the animal for preying on livestock may be as dated as the fairytale character.

According to a recent University of Calgary study, killing wolves won't ultimately decrease the number of wolf attacks in a region. The findings could lead to changes in how ranchers and government officials deal with so-called problem wolves, says Marco Musiani, an assistant professor who led the study analyzing wolf attacks on livestock in Alberta, Canada, as well as Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

A lethal-control program to cut down on livestock losses to wolves requires the killing of 30 percent to 50 percent of an area's wolf population each year. But that doesn't stop the problem. "Wolves are being killed as a corrective, punitive measure--not as a preventative one," says Musiani. "People hope that killing individual wolves that attack livestock will rid the population of offenders but this isn't happening."

Even when entire packs are wiped out, neighboring wolves or juveniles in search of their own territory will readily take up the space. In many cases, coyotes become the top livestock predator. To protect sheep from coyotes, some 80,000 coyotes are killed a year--also to no great effect.

According to a recent Wildlife Conservation Society study, the sheep industry has declined by 85 percent--despite eight decades of federally subsidized predator-control efforts. The cause is economic conditions, such as rising wages and a drastic drop in wool prices, not predators, says Kim Berger, the study's lead author.

In both cases the researchers believe that wildlife is being unjustly targeted. Instead of traps and guns, Musiani says, programs that compensate ranchers and shepherds for losses to wolves are the way to go.

Pen Grad Panda Enters Wild World

Among the recent graduates making their own way in the world this summer is one in a class by itself: the first captive-born giant panda ever released into the wild.

The 176-pound male was set free in the bamboo-covered mountains of Wolong Nature Reserve in southwestern China's Sichuan province--the world's largest contiguous chunk of panda habitat--on April 28. But before commencing his new life, the bear, born in 2001 at the reserve's China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, had to complete a rigorous, three-year program. Under the watchful eyes of scientists at the research center the black-and-white bear lived, first in a five-acre, open-air enclosure, then in more than 20 acres of fenced natural habitat. There he honed defensive skills such as howling and biting and learned to build a den, mark his territory and forage for bamboo shoots and leaves.

Now the new pen grad is free to test his skills throughout the preserve, and researchers are monitoring his progress via the satellite-tracking collar he wears. If he does well, releases of other captive-bred pandas may follow. Researchers believe the program has the potential to double China's current wild panda population, which stands at just 1,600 and is dwindling primarily because of habitat loss.

According to Marc Brody, founder of the U.S.-China Environmental Fund, which is working with Wolong researchers to conserve wild giant pandas, "the longer term question isn't, ‘can we train a panda to be released into the wild?' but, 'is there going to be a wild where pandas can live?'"

Distinctive Decapod Discovered

Ghostly pale with a lobsterlike body, hairy legs and furry monkey arms, it looks like the product of a surrealist's wild imagination. But for the scientists who discovered it a mile and a half below the surface of the South Pacific, Kiwa hirsuta is an exciting reality. The six-inch-long creature represents not only a new genus and species, but a completely new taxonomic family.

The researchers, an international team organized by Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute geneticist Robert Vrijenhoek, were exploring the ocean floor in a small submarine in March 2005. The crew was about 900 miles south of Easter Island when they first noticed the unusual animals near undersea geysers.

Even among the bizarre fauna attracted to the geysers, the snow-white, hairy creatures stood out. The researchers nicknamed them "yeti crabs." They collected one and detailed their discovery in the most recent issue of the French journal Zoosystema.

The animal is a close relative of the group of 10-legged crustaceans that includes lobsters, shrimp and crabs. But two features set Kiwa hirsuta apart. With only traces of membranes where its eyes would be, the animal is blind. And its appendages are covered with thin hairs similar to the bristles on a bumblebee's body. These hairs support colonies of bacteria that Kiwa hirsuta may feed on or use to filter out the toxic minerals discharged by the vents. The hairs may also help the blind animals find food and mates.

The research team hopes to learn more about the real life of this surreal critter on a future expedition. Meanwhile, their find is getting lots of media attention. One creative blogger has even posted a pattern for making your very own Kiwa hirsuta plush toy. "I'm amazed at the impression the discovery has made on people," says team member Joe Jones, co-author of the journal article describing the new family and species. "It demonstrates how little we really know about our environment and how much we have to learn by ocean exploration."