Scientists are concerned about the discovery that many polar bears in the Canadian Arctic are making marathon swims of several days in search of stable ice as the Beaufort Sea melts with climate change.
Between 2007 and 2012, Canadian researchers tracked 58 adult female polar bears and 18 young bears of both genders in the Beaufort Sea and 59 adult females in the Hudson Bay region. (Adult males weren't tracked because they often remove their collars and their necks are typically too wide to keep their collars on.)
They found the Hudson Bay bears rarely made long-distance swims.
But in the Beaufort Sea, when there was less sea ice, most bears made at least one swim of 50 kilometres or more (a marathon is 42.2 kilometres) – 69 per cent did so in 2012, when sea ice coverage hit a record low.
In fact, the researchers identified 115 long-distance swims in total during the study, 100 of them in the Beaufort Sea, with a median length of 92 kilometres or 3.4 days. On average, polar bears can swim at about two km/h.
While swimming, the bears rarely rest, said Nicholas Pilfold, lead author of the study.
"These bears are going for days without stopping."
You know it appears that somebody owes Charles Monnett an apology.
Oh and fuck you Sarah Palin!
Source http://ift.tt/1rorC4i
