35,000 Walruses Are All Crowded Together In One Spot — And It Signals Something Ominous

[cui bono]

It's fucking real dammit. What the hell are they denying???

35,000 Walruses Are All Crowded Together In One Spot — And It Signals Something Ominous

Erin Brodwin
Oct. 1, 2014, 11:14 AM



Thousands of walruses are gathered together on one of the last places they have to rest in Alaska — the shore. As the ice they typically rely on for respite between hunts has all but disappeared, the giant animals are clambering to the coast in record numbers.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) photographed a gathering of 35,000 of the mammals five miles north of Point Lay, an Inupiat Eskimo village 700 miles northwest of Anchorage.

The retreat of the Alaskan sea ice north into Arctic Ocean water has accelerated in recent years. It's bad news for the Pacific walruses, which rely on it for everything from giving birth to diving down to reach the food below.

...

“It’s another remarkable sign of the dramatic environmental conditions changing as the result of sea ice loss,” Margaret Williams, managing director of the World Wildlife Fund's Arctic program, told The Guardian.

more...
http://www.businessinsider.com/35000-walruses-gathered-in-alaska-2014-10

[TeamPooka]

1. K&R!

[NYC_SKP]

2. My question is "What will it look like when it's OUR turn for a mass species panic?"...

As go the walruses, so go we.

[cui bono]

5. Yeah. Seems other species work as a team for the most part.

I know humans won't.

[Yavin4]

32. "As go the walruses, so go we." I am the Walrus.

I am the Walrus.

[bananas]

47. I am the Walrus, and We Are All Together, Sitting on a Cornflake... nt

[obxhead]

3. I'm buying property in Orlando.

It should be waterfront, or very near it by the time I can retire.

[Sancho]

15. Right now I'm two miles from the beach...I'll retire on the water.

Flooding here in Florida happens more often, and those million dollar beach fronts will soon be fisheries.

[obxhead]

17. I'm waiting for the snorkel tours of downtown Miami.

I use that here in Sarasota and people think I'm joking. Then I tell them I expect it in 30 years.

The just don't get it.

[randome]

36. Drowntown Miami.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

[Logical]

4. Really? They have ESP or something? How could they tell something....

Bad is about to happen?

[cui bono]

6. Read the article.

If that was a joke, it fell flat.

[Cal Carpenter]

7. It isn't 'about to happen'. Something bad is **happening** to them.

"The retreat of the Alaskan sea ice north into Arctic Ocean water has accelerated in recent years. It's bad news for the Pacific walruses, which rely on it for everything from giving birth to diving down to reach the food below."

Being Logical is probably easier when you read past the headline

[Logical]

9. Ahh, I mad you mad? Sorry! Nap time? nt

[Wait Wut]

10. What an excellent reply...

...for someone that hadn't read the article and based their Logical comment on a stab in the dark.

[leftynyc]

11. Try reading the article next time

You wont look so foolish.

[lovemydog]

8. Tragic yet important story.

Thank you for sharing it here.

[bluesbassman]

12. Looks like the line for the porta-potties at Coachella.

Seriously though, that is both an amazing and disturbing photo. Global warming deniers should feel ashamed when they view it.

[progressoid]

44. Sadly, I don't think deniers are ashamed of anything.

They wear their ignorance with pride.

[Dreamer Tatum]

13. Burning Walrus is huge this time of year. nt

[BKH70041]

14. LOL! That's funny!

[yuiyoshida]

16. You should see Pier 39!

This is every day in San Francisco!

[ReRe]

18. K&R for over-exposure!

And we're next!

[jtuck004]

19. The time for crying is over. n/t

[littlemissmartypants]

22. Exactly. eom

[jtuck004]

40. It's not that I don't understand, but they don't care. One has to change their tactics, or die. n/t

[lpbk2713]

20. Looking for the Egg Man.

[1dogleft]

21. thats the best photo

they could post? unimpressed

[cui bono]

26. That's your takeaway?

Unimpressed.

You want more pictures go to the link.

[Scootaloo]

27. Gives a good sense of scale

That many walruses in one place should be treated as a geographic feature. They're big animals, you know

[Veganhealedme]

23. They're trying to tell us..

quit killing this planet.

When will people listen?

rec

[KrazyinKS]

24. If you don't find that shocking and alarming-

then your heart has frozen over. The artic ice may have melted, but the climate change deniers have hearts that are frozen.

[LittleGirl]

25. The shape they made is interesting

Looks like a walrus.

They shaped themselves into a walrus on land.

[randome]

39. Ha! I can see it now!

[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

[LittleGirl]

41. Yeah

[Sopkoviak]

28. It's called a mass "haulout"

Zoologists have documented them for decades.

https://polarbearscience.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/walrus-st-lawrence-island-mortality-1978-fay-and-kelly-1980-marked.pdf

[Beaverhausen]

29. "several thousand" isn't the same at 35 thousand

and yes, at times of the year there is less ice, but if you read the article there is NO ICE for them to rest on.

[Sopkoviak]

33. Thank you for that well researched and documented responce

To an obviously flawed and published scientific paper Beav.

They had me fooled for a sec.

[Beaverhausen]

35. do you call 35 of anything 'several'?

[A HERETIC I AM]

37. 35 of something is officially....

"a bunch"

[DesMoinesDem]

46. It's clear you never made it past the first sentence of the abstract.

In fact, the authors use of the phrase 'several thousand' in the abstract included 35,000 in one instance, as well as haulouts of an estimated 37,000 and 32,000 and 3 smaller (11,000-19,000) haulouts. That was in just one year. There are also mentions of other 30,000+ haulouts in that study. You could have easily found that out for yourself if you read past the first sentence.

[valerief]

30. Jesus is melting the North Pole. God's Will. You'll never convince the dumbshit deniers

any differently.

[blkmusclmachine]

31. Gawd works in mysterious ways...

[kentuck]

34. There was an earthquake not too far from Anchorage in the last week or two...?

I'm thinking that earthquakes and volcanoes can let a lot of heat escape from beneath the earth, and beneath the ocean, and could cause the water temperature to change, and in doing so, confuses the fish and mammals that live in the ocean. They search for cooler waters and get lost.

[A HERETIC I AM]

38. As a side note....

The odor downwind was particularly.....


ummmm....



pungent.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

50. I'm woried about disease. The ice stopped the growth of micro organisms.

[flamingdem]

42. This should be the top story today

and everyday until people get it.

[raouldukelives]

43. Every species will have its adjustments to make fit the parameters of Wall St.

Just the cost of doing business. Some people are willing to help them and some are already far beyond disgusted.

[G_j]

45. so depressing

and depessing that some have nothing more to offer than a joke..

[cui bono]

51. Yes. The high percentage of responses that are jokes is unbelievable to me.

DU is no better than the Yahoo! comments section too much of the time lately.

[Paper Roses]

48. This is one of the saddest things I have ever seen.

We have ruined the planet and there is nothing the poor animals can do about it. We don't seem to be able to do anything about the state of the global environment that will be quick enough to save millions of animals.

Maybe I'm just too old to see things any other way. We are responsible for the annihilation of millions of animals and insects on this beautiful earth. I think I'm glad to be so old that I will not see the near future. My regret is that my children and grandchildren will suffer as do the other creatures that share our planet.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

49. Imagine if they evolve legs and take to the land...