Current events 6

Polar bears can't eat geese into extinction
Science Daily (Oct.4th. 2010)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101104154340.htm
There are a lot of articles that talk about the extinction of polar bears. This article is the newest one that I found on science news. It talks about how there is a certain hope that they can survive with by adapting to new food resources.
As we already know, polar bears are one of the most endangered species and there are a lot of expeditions and researchers that are putting a lot of effort in order to help them survive! Why is this happening? Because of global warming, bears are losing their natural habitats (huge icebergs in polar seas), and the food sources too. As we know, polar bears usually eat fish or penguins, but because of global warming, in the polar “world” ice is disappearing-it is melting, and that’s how they lose their food, So, they have to find new alternative sources of energy, just in order to survive. This is described in this article. During the arctic spring, a lot of things happen. Glaciers break, bears are going onto shore, the geese are going to the north, and eggs are being layed. A thousands and thousands eggs of geese are eaten by polar bears each year. The timing of geese migration is based on the photo period and the timing of bear movements are based on the melting sea ice. When the geese hatch their eggs, the bears come and eat them, but since the bear is coming earlier, it is better for both of them, because the eggs have more nutrients when the embryo is younger. But, as the title says, polar bears can’t eat geese into extinction because there is a mismatch in their timing. The geese eggs may help them survive in their period of hunger, when nothing else is available.
This article was very concerning to me because it reminded me again about endangered species-I really didn’t think about the polar bears, that don’t have enough food and especially that they are starving on some icebergs, searching for some or any foods!!! But I’m really happy that I found out that they have adapted new energy source and the eggs of the geese seem to be as good and easy available.