December 24, 2009

Environmentalists getting it dead wrong - Polar Bears

Bad science and that they would promote it as fact is heinous. From PlanetArk -- Your Daily Guide to Helping the Planet:
A Male Polar Bear Carries The Head Of A Polar Bear Cub It Killed And Cannibalized In An Area About 300 Km North Of The Canadian Town Of Churchill
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A male polar bear carries the head of a polar bear cub it killed and cannibalized in an area about 300 km (186 miles) north of the Canadian town of Churchill in this picture taken November 20, 2009.

Climate change has turned some polar bears into cannibals as global warming melts their Arctic ice hunting grounds, reducing the polar bear population, according to a U.S.-led global scientific study on the impacts of climate change.
Yes, male bears of all sorts will kill the offspring of females who have mated with other males. This causes the female to go into heat again and the new male will then father his own pups. Simple evolutionary domination. The idea that this is due to global warming is abject bullshit. The idea that the male is eating this pup because it is hungry is bullshit. These people are downright stupid. Their hearts may be in the right place and they are trying to save the planet but seriously, anyone who has read anything about animal behavior will know exactly what is going on. If the people from Planet Ark promoted their political agenda with verifiable Scientific Facts, their arguments would carry a lot more weight with the general public. Instead, they promote themselves as a bunch of onanistic feel-good hippies with a strong political axe to grind and precious little scientific training and definitely zero time spent in the field doing basic research. Here is an account of the same behavior in the Smithsonian: The Truth About Lions
The whole scene looked like a “takeover,” a brief, devastating clash in which a coalition of males tries to seize control of a pride. Resident males may be mortally wounded in the fighting. If the invaders are victorious, they kill all the young cubs to bring the pride’s females into heat again. Females sometimes die fighting to defend their cubs.
Posted by DaveH at December 24, 2009 8:34 PM | TrackBack