Climate Change Causes Wolverine To Decline Across Canada
Human induced Global Warming has been noted in causing wide spread natural disasters and climate change. In recent times, scientists and researchers have found that polar bears and other animals are at real dangers of extinction due to ice melt. Their home - the once bountiful ice caps of Canada, Greenland and the Arctic Ocean is melting. Their food source is vanishing and their numbers are drastically
decreasing. Scientists have now discovered that a new specie's; the Canadian Wolverine is facing real threat of extinction due to human induced climate change.
They have found, that less snow settling in the northern America's as a result of climate change is affecting these powerful, tenacious animals.
The Wolverine lives in borel forest across Scandinavia, northern Russia, northern China, Mongolia and North America - it also ranges of 6 provinces of western Canada.
Previously, these areas where very cold with heavy set snow making it ideal for these animals. The Wolverine has thick fur and outsized feet that help move across the snow.
Wildlife biologist Dr Jedediah Brodie of the University of Montana, in Missoula, US, wondered how climate change might be having an impact on snowpack levels, and on the animals that depend on it.
"It occurred to me that a good first place to look for ecological impacts of that snowpack decline would be with a snow-adapted species like the wolverine," Dr Brodie told the BBC.
"Fortuitously, Canada has good records of both snowpack trends over time as well as trends in the harvest of all sorts of fur-bearing animals."
During their research they found a striking correlation between declining snowpack and falling numbers of the predator.
"In provinces where winter snowpack levels are declining fastest, wolverine populations tend to be declining most rapidly," the researchers wrote in the journal article.
Dr Brodie cannot be sure why wolverine numbers are falling, but he has his suspicions.
"Recent work shows that wolverines appear to use areas with deep snowpack for dispersal. So reduced snowpack could make dispersal more difficult or dangerous, potentially reducing the success rate with which individuals can establish new home ranges," he says.
"Reduced snowpack may also make it harder for wolverines to get food, for several reasons.
"First, harsh winters and deep snow are major causes of mortality for ungulates like elk, moose, deer and caribou.
"If milder winters mean that fewer of these animals die over the course of the winter, then there will be fewer carcasses for wolverines to feed on," he explains.
We are saddened to hear of the beautiful animal of our Home perishing due to Human induced climate change. As noted by Dr. Parchauri (Chair of the United Nations IPCC panel) revealed the quickest way to stop global warming is to adopt the Vegan diet.
Be love - Be Peace - Be Vegan.
