Arctic •

“Hold your breath, Nanook. Only 100 miles to go until you eat.”

It seems like not a day can go by without us having to talk about climate change. Of course, it is a serious subject, affecting our entire environment for the worst, so this is why we have to keep raising awareness. Still, that doesn’t mean that talking about it can’t get tiresome or that it can’t do more harm than good in some circumstances.

But it is very important to raise awareness. So, to focus on the most recent news from the climate change front lines, let’s talk about the Arctic. According to a team of researchers studying them for close to a decade, polar bears became long distance swimmers due to melting Arctic ice.

As the ice from the polar caps is melting at a much faster pace than it is supposed to because of global warming, it effects continue to make their mark on the environment. And polar bears, having to live near the heart of the problem, are not faring all that well, according to the recent study.

Apparently, as the ice caps are melting, it’s getting increasingly difficult for the animals to get both food and empty solid surfaces. This puts them in the precarious position of having to swim many miles each day in order to be able to stay alive, fed, and to find land.

Before their migration season in 2007, over 100 polar bears were tagged with GPS transmitters in order for the scientists to be able to track them. The trackers served their purpose valiantly in 2007, and then again when a team of scientists from the University of Alberta and Environment and Climate Change Canada wanted to see how they are affected by the ice.

As recently as 2012, 69 percent of the polar bears in the Arctic had to swim distances longer than 31 miles at least once. Now, even those numbers have gone up, with one bear reported to have swam around 250 miles for nine straight days without being able to stop once for food or rest.

This is slowly becoming the reality for all the rest of the bears as well. And even though polar bears are excellent swimmers, even they lack the stamina to swim for so long in order to survive. Things are significantly more difficult for mothers with cubs, as they have to move much slower, as a group.

According to Nicolas Pilfold, lead author of the study,

Recent studies indicate that swimming may be energetically costly to polar bears. Given the continued trend of sea ice loss, we recognize that an increased frequency in the need to engage in this behavior may have serious implications for population of polar bears living around the Arctic Basin.

Image source: Wikimedia

The bones of a mammoth found in Siberia show that the human presence in the Arctic was earlier than expected.

A mammoth’s bones indicate an early human presence in the Arctic. The bones had marks that showed that the mammoth was butchered and stabbed. Also, damaged tip tusk suggest that the people of the time might have used it to make tools. That shows that humans were present in the Arctic approximately 45,000 years ago, which means that their presence there is extended with at least 5,000 years.

The bones of the mammoth were found far in the north of Russia. The site where they were found is near Kara Sea, in Siberia. The report of the human presence in the Arctic before expected was published in the Science journal, on Thursday by researchers from the St. Petersburg Academy of Science. The report also registered the presence of a wolf bone from the same period as the mammoth bones. These bones suggest that hunting was one of the main occupations in those times.

According to a mammoth expert from the Michigan University, Daniel Fisher, the markings that were found on the bones clearly indicate that the huge animal was hunted by humans. John Hoffecker from the Colorado University said that the hunters were not Neanderthals, but humans from our species.

Even though most of the experts believe that the mammoth was hunted by humans, there are others who disagree, like Robert Park. Robert Park is an archeologist from the Waterloo University in Canada and he said that even though it is possible, he doesn’t strongly believe that humans were involved in the hunting of the mammoth. His proof is that the bones were found with fat on them, and if they were indeed humans, they wouldn’t have left behind precious fat that could have been used for fuel or food. Also, the bones are not as butchered as experts would expect. He also said that if people did live back then, that means that not only were they organized very well, but they had social links strong enough to permit them to live and to share the rare hunting meat.

Vladimir Pitsulko, the Russian author of the report said that the injuries were without any doubt caused by humans. He believes that the population in the Arctic spread rapidly as they had a constant food source and that they were skilled toolmakers and hunters and. The mammoth’s bones indicate an early human presence in the Arctic and the earliest human presence in Eurasia.

Image Source: www.upload.wikimedia.org

Polar Bears Became Long Distance Swimmers

A Mammoth’s Bones Indicate an Early Human Presence in the Arctic

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