Planting Trees for Polar Bears
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REVEALING RESEARCH | BEAR CARE | LEARNING TO LEAD The Annual Newsmagazine of Polar Bears International Fall 2010 $5.00 CAD/USD Planting Trees for Polar Bears Fat & Happy ABCs of Climate Change LETTER from the president It’s all about the polar bear. when These words guide our work every day. inside fatter They help us imagine an Arctic where sea means ice has been restored. A land where fat, healthy cubs follow their moms across a fitter snow-swept landscape in search of seals. Among polar bears, BIG is not only Polar bears rely on sea ice to hunt, breed, beautiful, it’s the healthiest way to be. and, in some cases, to den. Without sea ice, there can be no polar bears. Yet a rapid warming trend in the Arctic threat- ens their very survival. The world’s climate scientists have over- whelmingly concluded that Earth is warming—and that sea ice is retreating— due to the buildup of CO2 from human Photograph by Dan Guravich, c.1980s activity. The good news is that we still have time to reverse the trend and save 4 Data backed up those • Progressively earlier breakup dates polar bear habitat. But urgent action is observations: that limit the polar bears’ ability to needed. We’re counting on you. • Both male and female feed at a crucial time of year • Reduced reproduction In this, our inaugural issue, you’ll learn polar bears of all ages © 2009 Daniel J. Cox | NaturalExposures.com Courtesy Brookfield Zoo–Chicago Zoological Society Courtesy Brookfield about some of the ways we’re working to were losing weight • Reduced survival of cubs, subadults, and old bears due to early breakup of Robert W. Buchanan, 2010 recipient of the save polar bears—as well as how you can hen Dr. Ian Stirling began a • Fewer females were having triplets George B. Rabb Conservation Medal from become part of the solution. long-term study of the polar • Some female bears were losing their sea ice on the Bay the Chicago Zoological Society. We believe that people have power. And, bears of Churchill, Manitoba, cubs—and bearing new ones two New modeling by Dr. Andrew Derocher Win the late ‘70s, it wasn’t unusual to see years in a row and Ph.D. student, Dr. Peter K. Molnar, collectively, they can use that power not 8 only to guide their own actions to help conserve polar bear habitat, but to influence male polar bears with bellies so fat they • Fewer cubs were being weaned suc- predicts that the WHB population will corporations, industry, and governments to provide communities with greener options almost dragged the ground—or females cessfully at 1.5 years of age, a fre- be reduced to a mere handful of bears by for transportation and energy resources that lead to the reduction of CO2. with pudgy triplet cubs. Those were the quent occurrence in WHB. 2035. More worrisome, several straight days when Hudson Bay froze in early years of longer ice-free seasons—or one We’re encouraged by the fact that leading zoo organizations—which have the power to Concerned about these trends, Stirling November and provided productive seal- very long ice-free season—could lead to a reach millions of people and inspire change—have embraced climate change as a key and Derocher wrote the first paper sug- hunting well into the summer months. population collapse much sooner. initiative and are working with us. They include the Association of Zoos and Aquari- gesting a possible link between climate ums, the Canadian Zoo Association, and the American Association of Zoo Keepers. By the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, however, change and polar bear health. (Possible What Does This Mean? Stirling and his colleague, Dr. Andrew Effects of Climate Warming on Polar Bears, We’re excited to be partnering with Winnipeg’s Assiniboine Park Conservancy and Zoo The Western and the Southern Hudson Derocher, began to see to a troubling de- 1993) They, along with Stirling’s students, to create the International Polar Bear Conservation Centre, the world’s first polar bear Bay populations of polar bears live at the cline in the weight of Churchill’s bears. continued to monitor the WHB popula- rescue center. Now under construction, it will provide a transitional home for orphaned lowest latitudes. Research shows that the They wondered: Were the changes in the tion ecology and physical condition. cubs and injured and compromised polar bears. It will offer a strong conservation mes- problems affecting Western Hudson Bay Western Hudson Bay (WHB) polar bears sage and provide scientists with research capabilities. In 1999, Stirling, Dr. Nick Lunn, and John are now impacting Southern Hudson Bay. due to natural population fluctuations— © Daniel J. Cox | NaturalExposures.com >>> © Daniel J. Cox | NaturalExposures.com Iacozza published the first results that We’re optimistic that momentum is building to create change. Programs like our Project 11 or were they the harbinger of something “Unless climate warming is stopped or re- clearly tied warming climate and earlier Polar Bear contest, Leadership Camps, and Planting Trees for Polar Bears put a dent in ON THE COVER: Totally dependent on her versed, the same trend will follow in sev- more sinister, like climate warming? ice breakup to a loss of condition and re- CO2 and inspire others. Our network of zoo-based Arctic Ambassador Centers plays mother, this cub endures long days and eral other populations in the foreseeable PBI founder Dan Guravich, who had vis- productive changes in WHB polar bears. an active role in these programs—creating a ripple effect in their home communities. nights waiting for the ice to form on Hudson future,” Stirling says. Bay. Freeze-up has been later—and break-up ited Cape Churchill for nearly a decade The WHB population declined by 22% And we’re proud and gratified that the world’s leading polar bear scientists serve on earlier—than historically normal, limiting polar to photograph the fall gathering of bears, between 1987 and 2004. This means that the time for action on our Advisory Council. In August, Dr. Steven C. Amstrup joined our staff as senior bears’ access to their food source: seals. climate change—by individuals, corpo- asked Stirling, “Where have all the big Since then, Stirling says, several more scientist. Their belief in our work—and their strong commitment to polar bears—gives rations, and governments—is NOW. PHOTO BY: bears gone?” He and his photographer us hope. Hope for polar bears, other wildlife and, ultimately, people and the planet. scientific papers based on long-term data Daniel J. Cox | NaturalExposures.com friends were no longer seeing large male established and sustained by his project, Dr. Ian Stirling, PBI senior advisory council We rely on you for support—financial support, most certainly. But also through your We are grateful to Dan for allowing us such bears at the Cape. have clearly confirmed statistically sig- scientist, is research scientist emeritus with generous access to his award-winning images. actions. Be green. Join us in saving this symbol of the Arctic for generations to come. “I thought this was a telling observation nificant cause-and-effect relationships Environment Canada and adjunct professor in and it reinforced my impression that between warming climate in Hudson Bay the Department of Biological Sciences, Univer- Robert W. Buchanan something significant was indeed hap- and . sity of Alberta, Edmonton. He has conducted re- President and CEO pening,” Stirling recalls. search on polar bears and polar seals for 44 years. 2 POLAR BEARS INTERNATIONAL | www.polarbearsinternational.org Fall 2010 | TUNDRA TIMES 3 notes from the field RESEARCH cientists search for white bears in a white world. They Maternal Den Study Hearing Study watch northern lights ripple across the night-time sky and Howling winds, drifting snow, and tem- Scientist Megan Owen, a mother her- hear the booms of gigantic ice slabs smashing against peratures that hover at 50 below zero. It’s self, empathizes with female polar bears S all in a day’s work for Dr. Thomas S. Smith curled up with their cubs in snow dens. each other, creating tall pressure ridges and unusual formations. and his team, who study polar bear ma- Hidden from the world—warmed by © BJ Kirschhoffer | PolarBearsInternational.org© BJ Kirschhoffer Sometimes these biologists wait for days on shore, fog-bound ternal den sites on Alaska’s North Slope. their own body heat, and wrapped in or sitting out blizzards. When clear skies finally return, they Capture-Recapture Smith says that when he’s shivering in silence—Owen thinks that snow dens make perfect nurseries. scramble aboard aircraft before the arctic weather shifts again. What is this technique? frigid weather, chilled to the bone, he It’s cold, exhausting—and fascinating work. And PBI relies imagines polar bear families nestled What happens, though, when heavy oil Even after decades of working in the Arc- snugly in ice dens made dark and silent industry field equipment rumbles by? Or on their findings to inform our programming efforts and our tic, Dr. Steven C. Amstrup, PBI senior sci- by a thick blanket of wind-driven snow. when helicopters fly overhead—whomp, communications with you, our friends and members. entist, feels a surge of excitement when “Young cubs have little more than white whomp, whomp? handling his first polar bear of the season. fuzz for insulation,” he says. “They could Does the thick blanket of snow insulate “It’s always a feeling of, wow, here’s a never survive in the harsh arctic environ- polar bear families from those sounds? real, wild polar bear,” he says. “I can’t ment outside the den.