35,000 Walruses Attend Beach Party Hosted by Global Warming
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With the arrival of the Harvest Moon last month, the Pacific coast has found itself a desolate attraction of California, as the summer hoards of people basking in the sun have dwindled with the coming of Autumn. But in other regions of the Pacific coastline, where things are traditionally a bit cooler than the So-Cal sun, another species is finding that the beach will have to serve as their home away from home, as temperatures are melting their polar habitat.
This morning, Oct. 1, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported the arrival of an estimated 35,000 walruses coming ashore on an island in Northwest Alaska near Point Lay. Though the NOAA has not noted any particular abnormalities or issues related to the recent guests on the Alaskan coastline. The walruses, which typically live in the Chukchi Sea, have come ashore to rest in between their normal dives for food which is a common occurrence. But what is out of the ordinary is for them to rest on land, and especially in these numbers.
"It's a good-sized aggregation, definitely" ecologist with the US Geological Survey, Chadwick Jay says.
But it is out of the ordinary.
Typically, when out on diving expeditions in search of food or tracking a school of fish, the walruses will rest on sheets of floating ice. However, according to Alaska Dispatch News, a particularly warm summer melted away the ice platforms by mid-September, causing a major inconvenience for the marine mammals.
Though recent climate change may not directly affect the walruses other than creating an additional trip to the beach or two during their hunting trips, indirectly these less than ideal detours can have severe ramifications for the survival of the species. While on land, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has noted that baby and juvenile walruses are at extreme danger of being trampled or killed if the walruses are suddenly spooked by human disturbances. Even already amongst the large group, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has noted several dozen dead walruses and plans to investigate once the gathering moves back to the sea.
Yet another risky situation placed on international headlines courtesy of worsening climate change.
