Walruses Suffer Substantial Losses as Sea Ice Erodes
Coastal sea ice has been decreasing, stressing walruses.

by ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: October 2, 2009,
In the New York Times

Half a century after Pacific walruses began recovering from industrial-
scale hunting, marine biologists are growing worried that they face a
mounting threat from global warming.

Masses of lumbering walruses have been crowding on beaches and rocks
along the Russian and American sides of the Bering Strait in the
absence of the coastal sea ice that normally serves as a late-summer
haven and nursery.

While the retreats in sea ice around the Arctic this summer were not
as extensive as in 2008 or 2007, the Chukchi Sea, at the heart of the
walrus subspecies’ range, was largely open water.

On Thursday, biologists from the United States Geological Survey
issued a report concluding that 131 walruses found dead near Icy Cape,
Alaska, on Sept. 14 died from being crushed or stampeded. Several
thousand walruses had been congregating in the area, a situation that
scientists from the agency said was highly unusual.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/03/sc...r=IWON&ei=5058