Daily Archives: February 18, 2016

Only the gullible still buying ‘polar bear died of climate change’ nonsense

The media promote this ‘polar bear who died of climate change’ rubbish because it’s good for business but there is no evidence to support it. The Daily Mail today is running a piece that encourages the self-serving, sensationalist claim made by a photographer trying to sell his book. 

Daily Mail screencap_polar bear that died of climate change_Feb 18 2016

Read the whole thing here but remember this: the leading cause of death for all polar bears is starvation, in part because they have no natural enemies. Polar bears die of starvation every year, with or without ‘climate change.’

This bear might have died of starvation but that does not mean global warming is to blame. It’s bad enough when it’s a leading polar bear biologist making such a ridiculous claim but there is no reason at all to take the scientifically baseless word of Sebastian Copeland on this matter.

Previous posts where I have addressed similar claims:

Last year’s dead Svalbard polar bear used for this year’s propaganda

Polar bear behaviour gets the animal tragedy porn treatment – two new papers

Cannibalism in polar bears: spin and misrepresentation of fact galore posted

Ian Stirling’s howler update: contradicted by scientific data

 

Polar bear habitat mid-winter update

Sea ice extent in the Arctic is a bit below average this year at mid-winter but there are no data to suggest this situation will have a negative impact on polar bears.

Sea_ice_near_coast_of_Labrador_-b_wikimedia_sm_26 March 2007

[Photo above is sea ice off the coast of Labrador, Canada on 26 March 2007 (from Wikimedia): polar bears in the southern portion of the Davis Strait subpopulation have been particularly successful in recent years because in late March through May/June they hunt abundant numbers of young harp and hooded seals in this habitat]

Polar bear researchers presume that most animals eat little to nothing over the winter, because it explains why even non-pregnant bears are at their lowest weight at the beginning of spring.

Sea ice charts and maps below. Continue reading