NARWHALS THREATENED BY SHELL DRILLING OIL BUT SAFE NOW

Shell gave up drilling in Alaska. President Obama withdrew licence for 2016 and 2017. Thanks to Greenpeace and seven million people.

Narwhals have an unusual feature, a tusk. The male has a left incisor and is an unusual spiral tusk. Sometimes it even grows two tusks. The female rarely  grows any but it has two incisors up to 20 cm long.It is assumed that their tusk might a social role. It could play a part in breeding or social status. Male do use their tusk for fighting and there are injuries.Their communication has a great variety. It ranges from calls, whistles, clangs to clicks and even cow-like moos. 

The tiny community of Clyde River in the Canadian Arctic is under threat: oil companies have been given the green light to start looking for oil in Baffin Bay.

To do that, they’ll use seismic testing, firing deafening explosions through the ocean to try and find the pockets of oil under the seabed. The noise from these explosions could be catastrophic for the wildlife that live here too, including most of the world’s narwhal population.

NARWHALS  IN  CANADA

The people of Clyde River are doing everything they can to keep the giant oil industry out of their home. Can you stand with them and send an urgent message to Canada’s energy board asking them to keep the oil industry out of the Arctic?

https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/narwhal

The explosions - 100,000 times louder than a jet engine - can disrupt the narwhal’s migration paths and calving areas, cause permanent hearing loss, and even lead to death.

The Arctic is coming under increasing threat from oil companies. Baffin Bay has just been opened up to seismic testing, and last week Shell announced it intends to push forward with drilling new oil wells this year - with potentially devastating consequences.

Oil companies know seismic testing is a problem. Just a couple of years ago, the courts agreed with the people of nearby Lancaster Sound that seismic testing shouldn’t take place there. The reasons? Concerns for marine mammals and traditional lifestyles, the same struggles faced by the people of Clyde River.

There are just 900 people who live in Clyde River, but so far over 60,000 people from all over the world have already shown their support for this brave community. Add your voice to show the National Energy Board that the world’s eyes are on Clyde River.

https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/narwhal

We know that when we act together we are strong. Last September, people all around the world supported the Mahan community in their campaign to protect local forests from the coal industry. When the time came, India’s Supreme Court scrapped 200 coal mining licenses, including at Mahan.

Let’s see if we can do the same for the people of Clyde River struggling against the oil industry. Send your message: https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/narwhal

 What happens in the Arctic affects us all. We all benefit from keeping the Arctic healthy and free from risky oil drilling. Send an urgent message to protect our Arctic. https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/narwhal

POLAR BEAR

POLAR BEAR

The polar bear lives in the great frozen Arctic which is around the North Pole, covering part of Russia, Norway, Greenland, Canada and the USA. It is an inhospitable homeland and yet the Polar Bear is one of the largest of all bears if not the largest.

The Latin name  “Ursus maritimus” of the Polar Bear means “sea bear”, and it is were icy sea meets land. It is there where most of the bears are to be found. They are excellent swimmers and divers; perfectly at home in the icy waters of the Arctic. They swim at a speed of about 20km/h and can remain under water for up two minutes. They are able to close their nostrils when they submerge. They can swim as far as 300km from land and still swim strongly.  It propels itself along with its front legs and steers with the back legs. To cope with the icy water they have a thick layer of fat and a water-repellent coat.

Their fur is very dense and creamy yellow in colour which serves as a cover with the snowy environment.  The coat is made up of a thick underfur and long, top guard hairs.  Even their sole of their feet is covered with fur to provide extra grip on slippery ice when the polar bear shambles over it.

Polar bears travel great distances and further than any other bears.  It had been noticed that the bears follow the drifting pack ice within a general area that could cover up to 50,000sqkm.

DIET

They mostly live on seals and their favourite is the ring seal. The Polar Bears have the knack to follow them over the pack ice and wait by a breathing hole. The other method of hunting seals is when they quietly swim towards a resting animals and jump through the ice.

HOUSING

Only the female Polar Bear builds and moves into a den (house or home for the winter when she is pregnant. They are built in a snow drift near the coastline. The male keeps active throughout the year.  The female gives birth to one or two tiny cubs in December or January. The family will emerge three months later.  During that time the mother lives on her build-up fat and feeds the young with her rich milk.

POLAR BEAR CUPS BEFORE THEIR DEN

SPECIFICATION

Males are 2.5 to 3m long and their weight is 400 to 650kg

Females are 2 to 2.5m long and their weight is 175 to 300kg

Newborn cubs have a weight of 600 to 700 gr

Polar Bears have a lifespan of 30 to 40 years.

CONSERVATION

All bears had been hunted over the centuries either for food, fur or selling to zoo. The Polar Bear was one of the most wanted furs and was at the verge of extinction.  A sanctuary area was established in 1970 and it is now showing signs of increasing its numbers of polar bears

ARCTIC TERN

The amazing arctic tern flies from the Arctic to the Antarctic every year. It must hold the record of the longest annual migrations of any living creature. It is estimated that the round trip is about 35,000km.

It’s diet is fish and crustaceans such as shrimps. The Arctic tern lives and nests all around the northern hemisphere where food is in plentiful. They breed mostly north of the Arctic Circle all along the shore of Greenland, north of Canada, Alaska, Russia and on the polar islands. Some birds nest on the Tundra and feed on aquatic insects and fish in freshwater lakes.

Colonies have also been found further south around the Baltic, the North Sea, on shores of Britain, France, Ireland and on the eastern parts of the USA.

PROTECTING ITS NEST

Since the Arctic tern nests in cold windswept areas it is hard to conceal the nest because there are hardly any vegetation growing there. The tern chooses very open spaces and it is thought their main predators such as Arctic fox, skua or rats could be seen long before it approaches the nest.

It also nests in places on little off-shore islands where predators have to take the risk to swim in icy-cold waters. Furthermore, it nests with many hundreds or thousands of other terns. When there is a danger the birds take off and the pair circle over the nest.

When the predator is trying to attacks the nest the bird swoop down and pecks the head.  Surprisingly the tern can give a very nasty punch and will continue till the predator retreats with a bloody head. This also goes for humans who decided to wonder into the colony.

A great camouflage is that the eggs have blotchy dark brown pattern on light brown background which blends in perfectly with the surroundings. When a predator comes near a nest the chicks keep completely still while the infuriating parents are attacking the predator till it willingly retreats before it even spots the chicks.

NESTING SITE

When a pair of terns found a good nesting site with reasonable safety and plenty of food close by they will return to it year after year. They are capable of .finding their way back from the other side of the world.  Even the young birds return to the place where they were born. Gradually the colony is growing bigger and bigger until all the places are occupied.

The best place is at the centre of the colony because predators will hardly reach there with all the other terns around. However, these places are fought over and in great competition. Young birds that breed for the first time have to nest at the edge and as they get older they slowly move inwards.

BREEDING

Young birds usually start breeding when they are three years old but their first attempt ends mostly in failure. This is mainly because they are only getting a nesting site at the edge of the colony. The other reason is they have not got enough experience in catching enough fish to feed the young.  Arctic terns dive from a height of 10 m above the water and therefore it is easy for inexperienced young ones to miss the fish. Another problem is to bring it back to the nest. Arctic skuas are expert pirates and fly constantly over the colony ready to steal the fish from a tern. The skua gives chase and the tern is trying to escape but sometimes it drops the fish and the skua catches it while it falls.

FOOD

Although predators are a constant battle but most of the birds are raising their young successful. The bigger problem occurs where there is a food shortage. There can be a natural occurrence. It can happen that the small school of fish to not appear and although there is plenty of fish but they are too big for the chicks. Then there are freak gales which prevents the adults from flying to catch fish.

In recent years it happens quite frequently that the colonies in the north of Britain could not find enough food for their chicks. It is thought that over-fishing is the cause. A particular fish called sandeel which is the main food for terns is fished for producing oil and food for livestock.

MIGRATION

At the end of their nesting season the terns set off again on their incredible migration. It travels south as the summer ends in the northern hemisphere avoiding gales, cold and dark condition. When it arrives at the southern ocean it is summer there. The birds fly as far as the Antarctic pack ice will have daylight round the clock for fishing.

The Arctic tern can live up to 20 years and in view of these constant migrations it clocks up an enormous amount of mileage which is a great achievement for a bird weighing 100g.

ARCTIC TERN OVER
THE MENDENHALL

SNOWY OWL

The snowy owl is the largest arctic bird. In winter it spends its time sleeping and sheltering to avoid eating because food is scarce.

The snowy owl had one of the biggest evolutions. It adapted to long periods without food. In the summer the Arctic has constant daylight and in the winter darkness. It is also well insulated to cope with the harsh weather in the Tundra. 

The plumage insulates them from very cold temperatures. They hunt at night where temperature is even lower. The plumage also prevents body heat loss and therefore they need less food. This again helps them to survive hard times when there is very little food about.

Their plumage covers them completely apart from the peak and eyes. Even the eyes are covered with long dense eye lashes. The legs are cover with long thickly feather like trousers and go all the way down to the claws. Under the close outer feather the snowy owl has a layer of fine thermal down. The feathers are hollow told warm air.

SNOWY OWL FEMALE

SNOWY OWL MALE

The male is almost pure white which serves as great camouflage. The female has some brown feather and this helps to camouflage her when she sits on her eggs.

Its main predators are the Arctic Fox. Although the fox has very rarely a chance to kill an adult because of the snowy owl size but it can snatch chicks or eggs.

BREEDING

The snow owl builds its nest on the ground but on a higher point to be able to spot any danger. Both parents are active in making the nest. They scrape out a hollow and line it with sticks and moss but very thinly.

The female is much heavier than the male. She also adds more body fat before she sits down to incubate the nest. She needs this entire extra because she will sit on the nest for about eight weeks during which she doesn’t leave or rarely the nest. Turing this time her mate will bring food.

On the Tundra the main food supply is lemmings. They survive under the snow and breed heavily when vegetation starts to grow. Since the breeding of lemmings vary from year to year it has an impact on the number of eggs and chicks the snowy owl produce.

The amazing fact is that the snowy owl starts to incubate with the first egg. If the food surplus is scarce the female stops producing eggs. Therefore the eggs could be two or up to 14.

Since the female begins to sit on the nest when the first egg is laid the chicks are then all different sizes. They feed the oldest chick first and then go down to the youngest. If the food supplies are getting less; the older chicks are to surviving. It had been seen that the female also feeds the younger chicks which died to feed them to their older brothers and sisters.

SNOWY OWLS' CHICKS

The time of incubation is finish when the young ones can leave the nest and at the time when lemmings are most numerous. This also gives the young bird a chance to learn to hunt.

At that time the snowy owl also mould and rids itself of old worn out feathers. The Arctic condition demands that the bird’s plumage is in perfect condition.

When autumn arrives and the food supplies plumage the adult owls separate. Each defending its hunting ground.  The young birds are driven away. They can travel long distance to find good hunting grounds. Some go to Canada, Russia, and Scandinavia. They also have been seen resting on icebergs. Some come as far as Britain and some come to the Shetland and feed on rabbits.

HUNTING

With a height of 60cm and their wingspan more than a metre the snowy owls can kill much bigger prey than  lemmings. It kills hares and birds up to size of black grouse. It usually sits and watches all round. When an animal or bird is careless it swoops silently down and kills it with its powerful claws. It had been observed to dive under the snow to get at its prey.

PENGUINS

The family of penguins have 18 species. They lost the ability to fly and their wings turned into paddles which they use in the water.  They are great swimmers and diving specialists.

On land they waddle and look like waiters with their white front and black back and head. They all look almost the same but for the variation of beaks, white or yellow marking on their faces. Some also have eye crests. They differ very much in size. The emperor penguin is as tall as a child while the blue penguin is the size of a parrot. Their webbed feet are at the end of their body and it is used like rudders for steering.

The Southern Hemisphere, in the ice-cold Antarctic zones, is where most penguins live. The jackass penguin is the exception. It breeds in Africa and feeds in cool waters at the tip of South Africa. Also the Galapagos, Magellanic and Humboldt penguins live in the tropics fed by the cool current from the Antarctic.

GENTOO  PENGUIN

CHINSTRAP PENGUIN

They live most of their time at sea but come ashore at breeding time on isolated coasts which are along the Antarctic current. These currents are rich in squid, fish, krill and others which are the penguin's diet.

The penguin’s feathers are perfect to protect them in those icy cold waters. They are long, thin and turn down towards the bottom.  At the bottom of the feather is a fluffy tuft, this mat together and give a wind- and waterproof layer. They are feathered from head to down their legs. The Adelie penguin has even a feathery beak.

Furthermore, a layer of blubber underneath the coat protects them from the cold as well as when they jump out of the water and crash-land on the ice or rocks. They are very good at leaping. The Adelie penguin leaps up to 2m.

ADELIE PENGUIN

The female has one or two eggs. She lays it in a scrape on the ground or on pebbles with sticks and bones to prevent it rolling off. It also keeps it from the ground of melting ice. In the more northerly area they put the eggs on tussock grass. The eggs are incubated for 1-2 months. The chicks are ready to leave after 10 weeks. The king penguins' chicks are ready to leave after 13 months.

The skuas and other predators take the penguins' eggs and/or attack chicks

EMPEROR PENGUIN

Emperor penguins are the biggest. They can weigh up to 16kg. The larger the penguins the better they keep their body heat. Emperor penguins breed on the coldest of the sea ice and shores of the Antarctic. In March the adults come ashore and travel to their breeding grounds. They mate and lay their eggs in complete darkness of Antarctic winter.

The male incubate the eggs on top of their feet under a fold of skin to prevent it to freeze. The several thousands of penguins which are there huddle together to preserve their body heat. They don't while they are on the egg and live off their fat. To preserve their energy they sit there and huddle together for warmth.

Male emperors do not have a territory and therefore do not fight with each other. The gentoo, chinstrap and adelie penguins are territorial. Their huge breeding colonies are very noisy because they always squabble.

When the female comes ashore with a peak full of squid to feed the chicks; the male leaves to feed himself. The female regurgitates the food at first to feed the chicks and later on they both feed them. The chicks are ready for the open sea in December.

The huge, vicious leopard seal lurks under the ice edge to get hold of one penguin or two.