Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Friday 15 September 2017

APNewsBreak: Walruses in Alaska may have died in stampede

By DAN JOLING 64 dead walruses Monday
Associated Press and tagged them so they
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) would not be counted in a
— Thousands of Pacific later survey.
walrus are coming to Alas- The agency hopes to send
ka’s northwest shore again a veterinarian to determine
in the absence of summer the cause of the deaths.
sea ice and not all are sur- No one has witnessed a
viving. stampede.
A survey Monday of a “Depending on when the
mile of coastline near the last time he did his survey,
Inupiaq Eskimo village of it may be an accumula-
Point Lay found 64 dead tion over several weeks,”
walruses, the U.S. Fish and Medeiros said.
Wildlife Service told The As- Shaye Wolf, climate sci-
sociated Press. ence director for the Cen-
Most of the animals were ter for Biological Diver-
younger than a year old. sity, who wrote the 2008
The cause of death is petition to list walruses
not known, said agency as threatened or endan-
spokeswoman Andrea gered species, said the Fish
Medeiros, but stampedes and Wildlife Service should
— set off when startled review guidelines for pro-
walruses rush to the sea, - In this Sept. 7, 2015, photo from an unmanned remote camera and provided by U.S. Fish and tecting walruses.
crushing smaller animals — Wildlife walruses lay on the beach at Point Lay, Alaska. “These animals are suffer-
are a likely suspect. ing a great deal of stress
“Our thinking is, because guidelines instruct pilots minished Arctic Ocean sea the shallow continental from climate change,
of the age of the animals of single-engine planes ice. shelf, over water more than and when they’re pushed
— they were young ani- to stay at least a half-mile A week later, the num- 10,000 feet (3,050 meters) ashore, they should get
mals — it’s likely that it was away from walruses on ber had grown to 2,000. deep. very strong protections
caused by a stampede, land or ice, and if closer, In the past month, 30,000 That’s far too deep for wal- from disturbances,” she
probably more likely than to fly above 2,000 feet (610 to 40,000 walruses at times ruses to reach the ocean said.
disease, given the age meters). have crowded the beach, bottom. The ultimate threat to wal-
class,” Medeiros said. The guidelines call for heli- Medeiros said. Instead of staying on sea ruses is the rapid loss of
A polar bear, hunter, air- copters and multi-engine Walrus dive hundreds of ice over the deep water, sea ice due to climate dis-
plane or boat can cause a aircraft to stay a mile feet to eat clams on the walruses have gathered on ruption, she said, adding
stampede. Alaska Native away, or if closer, above ocean bottom, but unlike shore to rest. that rollbacks of climate
residents of Point Lay, who 3,000 feet (915 meters). The seals, they cannot swim in- Calves born earlier this year change protections by the
may legally hunt walrus for agency warns that it is only definitely. Historically, sea are especially vulnerable Trump administration will
food, expressed concern guidance but creating a ice has provided a plat- when shoulder to shoulder further endanger the ani-
after seeing an airplane fly- disturbance is a violation of form for rest and safety far with mature females that mals.
ing near the herd and pos- federal law. from predators for mothers weigh more than a ton. Ice in the Chukchi Sea has
sibly circling. Several hundred walruses and calves north of the Ber- Residents of Point Lay re- not reached its minimum
“That certainly is a con- came ashore near Point ing Strait. ported three to five dead for 2017. Walruses likely will
cern,” Medeiros said. Lay on Aug. 3, the earliest However, sea ice has re- walruses in early August. A keep coming ashore un-
“That’s not what we want recorded appearance of a ceded much farther north community member who til ice starts to re-form with
people to be doing.” herd in a phenomenon tied in recent years because of works with the Fish and the onset of winter, Fish
Fish and Wildlife Service to climate warming and di- global warming, beyond Wildlife Service counted and Wildlife said.q