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12.08.11 - 6:06 PM
Cannibal Polar Bears
At a meeting of the American Geophysical Union, British environmental photojournalist Jenny Ross described scenes of an adult polar bear killing a bear cub in the Arctic, another disturbing result of loss of sea ice due to climate change. A paper describing the kill event was recently published in the journal Arctic. More photos here. Warning: graphic.
"There are increasing numbers of observations of it occurring, particularly on land where polar bears are trapped ashore, completely food-deprived for extended periods of time due to the loss of sea ice as a result of climate change."
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12 Comments so far
Show AllActually, that's how nature seems to do things. The cub wasn't the bear's own cub and behaviour like this isn't out of the norm for large predators.
especially when they're starving to death due to lack of seal pups in the receding ice floes. How long before this is normal behavior for humans? We are a large predator, no? Also at risk of losing our habitat?
Actually, females in untenable situations will kill their young. This can happen in times of great stress, such as being cornered and in immediate and indefensible danger, abject and prolonged starvation, failure to thrive, disease.
Then there were those railway cars in world war two Germany when the “humans” realized where they and their kin were headed.
Even had the cub been the bear's own it wouldn't be at all unusual. Filial cannibalism is known in many species. I suggest this photojournalist stick to taking pictures and leave the scientific premises to the scientists. A true journalist would do some fact checking before trying to incite public opinion about something for which he knows so little.
http://academic.reed.edu/biology/professors/srenn/pages/teaching/web_2006/AMGJTG_Cannibals/juvenile.html
Female polar bears have always had to protect themselves and their cubs from male polar bears.. Polar bears will stalk, kill and eat any animal, incuding humans.
Global warming is not at fault here,,, global warming is our fault and lots of very nasty things are now happening due to GW and lots more worse things are on the way.
It's not just Polar bears... When a male lion fights off the pride's dominant male lion and takes command, he then kills all of the pride's lion cubs,,, but they don't eat them... Chimps are cannabalistic also, it's not uncommon... Humans have done it also, long before GW.
Polar bears are cute as a teddy bear, but polar bears one one of the few land animals that will stalk humans and kill them... They are not cute adults.
The article says the bear ATE the cub, didn't just kill it. That points to hunger as a motivation, possibly driven by lack of its normal prey. From the article: "this behaviour is becoming increasingly common among the bears". Understood, however. In evaluating Climate Change, the behavior of a single polar bear can't be anything but a distraction.
Polar bears have (always) killed and (*eaten*) other polar bears and any other animal they can get their claws into,, or dead animals, like dead washed up whales... It is not just being caused by global warming and it is nothing new.
Global warming will however eventually cause the demise of the polar bears and the seals and eventually in the not too distant future,, every other form of life on Earth, perhaps leaving some rodents, bugs and bacteria.
To use this as a reason global warming is causing big problems just gives the skeptics and professional deniers ammunition to scoff at us, because they can easily prove it is not anything new and try to show that we are all a bunch of crazy tree hugging idiots... In their words.
There are many valid scientific and obvious reasons to prove GW is a fact and it's very dangerous for all life on Earth... We don't need hype, it just gives the Anthony Watts types ammunition... I will acknowledge it is probably easier now for the male bears to catch the cubs, but killing and eating them is not abnormal for them. A large male polar bear will also kill smaller males and females and eat them.
Wayne, you're arguing against a point that the article didn't make. The contention is not that Polar Bears have never engaged cannibalism until now, only that changing conditions, brought on in part by climate change, may be making it more common.
No that is not what I argued,, debated or wrote ~mlb~... I am stating that (*global warming*) is NOT causing male polar bears to commit cannibalism... That is totally false,, 100% false.
And who says it has become more common? ___ Is that a fact? __ Which creible scientists who study polar bears and their enviroment have stated that?
It's just false and does not help with the anti- pro nuker arguments.. We already have far enough problems with those well financed professional liars.
I sent this yesterday to THINK PROGRESS
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16081214
Nature is sending us a message.
I know most people do not appreciate my knowledge about animals. I am not being arrogant when I say that. I say that because most of my higher education was in the animal and biological sciences and ‘natural’ history.
This story is not graphic but sad. It is also very telling. Most people think because we carry the title of human being, that that makes us special and different from the animal world. That is a false premise. No matter what the preacher says, we all have a common ancestor.
All studies and past histories tell the same story, that when there is a scarcity of resources, life will prey on life, and it is usually the young and the frail that are sacrificed first. This is happening now, and it is obvious as our “social safety nets” are cut and we are put in the position….that it is every man for himself. No one will be spared if these policies are allowed to be played out.
Unless we devise and enforce a plan to take care of us all…….then we will slowly be forced to eat each other in a system that really does not care about preserving life. To Wall Street and the very rich, our lives are expendable.
TODAY'S EXAMPLE:
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/12/08/384922/food-stamps-mother-shoots-texas/
Stay tuned............
Gotta go with Wayne on this one.
Since when have these magnificent beasts NOT killed the cubs of competitors? It's very disturbing to look at, but you can also go to Youtube and watch videos of male lions killing little lion cubs. Sickening, yes, but that's the way the universe was designed. For this and other reasons, some of the early Gnostics claimed that nature was the church of Satan.
And btw, lions and polar bears are positively saintly compared to humans when it comes to cannibalism/infanticide; or did we forget about the half-million dead Iraqi children that were "worth it" according to M. Albright?
Yes indeed, nature can be a brutal construct according to human sensibilities, but none quite so brutal as we ourselves. It seems inappropriate to moralize on such a topic when we are the worst offenders.
If, as the photographer claims, this tendency amongst polar bears is becoming more prevalent, then that is certainly cause for concern. However I see no hard data in the article. No reason to give global warming denialists more ammunition.
Polar bears are a different breed of "cat"... Pun intended.
Polar bears are very vicious beasts, they are not nice or pleasant animals.. They will stalk and kill another creature even when they are well fed.. They are also amnivorious animals.
It is their nature to stalk and kill... . Why it is their nature is anyone's guess, but it's a fact they kill and leave a carcass to rot or leave it for Arctic foxes who are frequesnt nearby followers of adult male polar bears... They do not stalk or kill the Arctic foxes however, so they do have a bright side.
They definently do stalk humans and kill them, sometimes eat a few bites and leave the body... It is not anything like maneater tigers of Khuman or man eating lions in Africa who have developed the taste of human flesh.. Polar bears kill humans for fun,, or whatever their reason may be.
In disposition and character, polar bears are very similar to the African hippos when it comes to stalking and killing humans.
It MAY sound as if I am against polar bears... I am not... I believe we should leave them alone and don't invade their environment and do all possible to try and save the specie from the coming disaster of GW... All animals are important, as is our atmosphere and oceans for all life on Earth.