The real reason for the decline in the polar bear population

Professur · Nov 27, 2008

Zoo's polar bear breeding plan scuppered by girl-on-girl

Male actually female, staff belatedly note

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

A northern Japanese zoo's polar bear breeding plan was somewhat delayed when staff noticed the male brought in to make the beast with two backs with their resident female was himself herself a girl.

According to Reuters, four-year-old Tsuyoshi had been "living in harmony" with the unnamed female at Kushiro Municipal Zoo since the two were introduced back in June.

Zookeeper Masako Inoue explained: "We thought he was a male, so we never had any doubts as we took care of him. But one day we realized that the two bears urinate in the same way, and we thought, is that how males do it? And once we started to look at things that way, we weren't quite so sure."

Cue two DNA tests on Tsuyoshi's hair and a "manual examination", which revealed the animal's true gender.

Inoue insisted it's no simple matter to correctly identify a polar bear's sex since "their long hair makes it difficult to distinguish, especially when the bears are young". Tsuyoshi was tagged as a bloke at three months, Inoue noted.

The zoo is now planning to chat to other local zoos to see if can get its breeding plan back on track. ®
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source

So much for the experts

spike · Nov 27, 2008

Sounds like the novices guessed wrong and the experts found the real gender.

Gonz · Nov 28, 2008

Just another reason to trust the experts.

Gato_Solo · Nov 28, 2008

Gonz said: ↑

Just another reason to trust the experts.
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Which set? The ones who sexed the cub in infancy, or the casual observers who got it right watching the bears urinate?

Gonz · Nov 28, 2008

I'll give you 3 guesses & the first two don't count.

jimpeel · Apr 8, 2012

Apparently, they do much better in the wild.

SOURCE

Environment
Healthy polar bear count confounds doomsayers
paul waldie
WINNIPEG— From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Apr. 04, 2012 8:44PM EDT
Last updated Thursday, Apr. 05, 2012 5:05AM EDT

The debate about climate change and its impact on polar bears has intensified with the release of a survey that shows the bear population in a key part of northern Canada is far larger than many scientists thought, and might be growing.

The number of bears along the western shore of Hudson Bay, believed to be among the most threatened bear subpopulations, stands at 1,013 and could be even higher, according to the results of an aerial survey released Wednesday by the Government of Nunavut. That’s 66 per cent higher than estimates by other researchers who forecasted the numbers would fall to as low as 610 because of warming temperatures that melt ice faster and ruin bears’ ability to hunt. The Hudson Bay region, which straddles Nunavut and Manitoba, is critical because it’s considered a bellwether for how polar bears are doing elsewhere in the Arctic.

The study shows that “the bear population is not in crisis as people believed,” said Drikus Gissing, Nunavut’s director of wildlife management. “There is no doom and gloom.”

Mr. Gissing added that the government isn’t dismissing concerns about climate change, but he said Nunavut wants to base bear-management practices on current information “and not predictions about what might happen.”

The study’s conclusions drew concern from Andrew Derocher, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Alberta who has been studying polar-bear populations for years. Prof. Derocher said the 1,013 figure is derived from a range of 717 bears to 1,430. “It’s premature to draw many conclusions,” he said, adding that there were no comparative figures and the upper end of the range, 1,430, was highly unlikely.

Prof. Derocher also said some details in the survey pointed to a bear population in trouble. For example, the survey identified 50 cubs, which are usually less than 10 months old, and 22 yearlings, roughly 22 months old. That’s nearly one-third the number required for a healthy population, he said. “This is a clear indication that this population is not sustaining itself in any way, shape, or form.”

The debate over the polar-bear population has been raging for years, frequently pitting scientists against Inuit. In 2004, Environment Canada researchers concluded that the numbers in the region had dropped by 22 per cent since 1984, to 935. They also estimated that by 2011, the population would decrease to about 610. That sparked worldwide concern about the future of the bears and prompted the Canadian and American governments to introduce legislation to protect them.

But many Inuit communities said the researchers were wrong. They said the bear population was increasing and they cited reports from hunters who kept seeing more bears. Mr. Gissing said that encouraged the government to conduct the recent study, which involved 8,000 kilometres of aerial surveying last August along the coast and offshore islands.

Mr. Gissing said he hopes the results lead to more research and a better understanding of polar bears. He said the media in southern Canada has led people to believe polar bears are endangered. “They are not.” He added that there are about 25,000 polar bears across Canada’s Arctic. “That’s likely the highest [population level] there has ever been.”

There’s much at stake in the debate. Population figures are used to calculate quotas for hunting, a lucrative industry for many northern communities. Hunting polar bears is highly regulated but Inuit communities can sell their quota to sport hunters, who must hunt with Inuit guides. A polar-bear hunting trip can cost up to $50,000. Demand for polar-bear fur is also soaring in places like China and Russia and prices for some pelts have doubled in the past couple of years, reaching as high as $15,000.

The Nunavut hunting quota in the western Hudson Bay area fell to 8 from 56 after the 2004 report from Environment Canada. The Nunavut government increased it slightly last year but faced a storm of protest. Over all, about 450 polar bears are killed annually across Nunavut. Mr. Gissing said a new quota is expected to be announced in June.
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valkyrie · Apr 8, 2012

I suspect that the population of polar bears is shifting their hunting territory and this is only noticed by the folks who live there full-time, permanently, and have the opportunity to observe the polar bears on a regular basis. Environmental researchers have notoriously poor budgets to work with and don't conduct continuous surveys.

Keep in mind that the hunting industry in Alaska and North Canada is a very lucrative business, and for some communities it is one of the few employers. So take this article with a grain of salt and skepticism. Everyone has an agenda, and I mean both sides.

Continuation of reasonable hunting quotas is important in preserving our environment. Especially true when pelts are getting $15K a pop or more. Remember that it is widely believed within the scientific community that Clovis Man caused directly or indirectly the extinction of many large mammals on this (North/Central/South America) and other continents. There were no hunting quotas back then.

Professur · Apr 9, 2012

or ....

Mystery virus jumps from seals to polar bears
By Yereth Rosen, REUTERS

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA - Symptoms of a mysterious disease that has killed scores of seals off Alaska and infected walruses are now showing up in polar bears, the U.S. Geological Survey said on Friday.

Nine polar bears from the Beaufort Sea region near Barrow were found with patchy hair loss and oozing sores on their skin, similar to conditions found in diseased seals and walruses, the agency said in a statement.

Unlike the sickened seals and walruses, the affected polar bears seem otherwise healthy, said Tony DeGange, chief of the biology office for the Geological Surveyès Alaska Science Centre. There had been no deaths among polar bears, he said.

The nine affected bears were among the 33 that biologists have captured and sampled while doing routine studies on the Arctic coastline, DeGange said.

Patchy hair loss has been seen before in polar bears, but the high prevalence in those spotted by the researchers and the simultaneous problems in seal and walrus populations elevate the concern, he said.

The Geological Survey is coordinating with agencies studying the other animals to investigate whether there is a link, he said.

“There’s a lot we don’t know yet, whether we’re dealing with something that’s different or something that’s the same,” he said.

The disease outbreak was first noticed last summer. About 60 seals were found dead and another 75 diseased, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Most of the affected seals are ringed seals, but diseased ribbon, bearded and spotted seals were also found.

Several walruses in northwestern Alaska were found with the disease, and some of those died as well, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The diseased seals and walruses, many of them juveniles, had labored breathing and lethargy as well as the bleeding sores, according to the experts. The agencies launched an investigation into the cause of the disease, which has also turned up in bordering areas of Canada and Russia.

Preliminary studies showed that radiation poisoning is not the cause, temporarily ruling out a theory that the animals were sickened by contamination from the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan.

Spread of the disease among seals continues. A sickened and nearly bald ribbon seal pup was found about a month ago near Yakutat on the Gulf of Alaska coastline, according to the agency. The animal was so sick it had to be euthanized.

All of the afflicted species are dependent on Arctic sea ice and considered vulnerable to seasonal ice loss.

Polar bears are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and listings are being considered for the Pacific walrus and for the ringed, bearded and ribbon seals.
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catocom · Apr 9, 2012

I heard there actually is no decline.
There's actually an increase.

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The real reason for the decline in the polar bear population

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