Biologist tracks walruses forced ashore as ice melts – ‘Unheard of five years ago’
By Annie Feidt
September 26, 2010 from APRN Earlier this month, tens of thousands of walruses crowded onto a sandy stretch of beach on Alaska’s northwest coast. The animals were forced to swim to shore after the Arctic Sea ice they usually live on disappeared from the Chukchi Sea. It’s a phenomenon that was unheard of five years ago. Anthony Fischbach, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, is trying to get a handle on what the dramatic change in behavior could mean for the species long-term. On a recent foggy evening, Fischbach — dressed in camouflage to blend into the greenish-brown landscape — creeps toward the animals to record them. Several thousand walruses are on the beach, packed shoulder to shoulder. Fischbach calls it a “wall of walrus.” “I’m surprised by one thing,” he says. “Essentially all the animals here are adult females.” You’d expect to see about one in three with newborn yearling calves, he says. The vast majority of walruses in the Chukchi each summer are females who fatten up on clams that populate the seafloor. They need a lot of protein to nurse their young. This time of year, they should be foraging from the sea ice floating over the productive waters of the continental shelf. Instead, they’re stuck on land. “I only see a small number of yearling calves,” Fischbach says. “That makes me wonder what’s happening with the calves.” Fischbach suspects that walrus moms have a harder time keeping track of their pups once the sea ice disappears. Feeding the pups is also more difficult. From land, more animals have to compete for fewer resources that are farther away. Fischbach has been attaching satellite radio tags on the walruses to try to figure out how the animals are coping. …
