Fauna Journal Entry
Thinning Ice Threatens Seal Cubs (March 17, 2008)
Newborn ringed seals in the Arctic are in danger due to melting ice. National Marine Mammal Laboratory.
Hundreds of ringed seal cubs are in danger as a result of thinning ice in the Arctic, according to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF). Over the past two months, an estimated 1,500 cubs were born in the Arctic. If the thin ice melts too fast in the weeks ahead, many of them won't survive.
Ringed seal cubs spend the first weeks of life in burrows in the ice sheet. This year, the burrows may not stay solid long enough to protect the baby seals. If the ice melts too early, the pups will be forced into chilly ocean waters before they have enough insulating fat to protect them. Many will die from hunger and the cold.
WWF says winter ice is much thinner than normal in some ringed seal habitat this year. Cubs in the greatest danger are those along the southwest coast of Finland, the Gulf of Finland, and the Gulf of Riga between Latvia and Estonia.
A recent population survey counted between 7,000 and 10,000 ringed seals in the Arctic. Just a century ago, there were about 180,000 seals. Sadly, the population could shrink even more as more ice melts. The reality is that global climate change is hitting harder in the Arctic than anywhere else on the planet.
