I’ve not written much about this subpopulation before but with the flurry of interest over “weakened” penis bones and toxic chemicals, I thought it was time to remedy the situation.
East Greenland Scorsby Sound March 2011 on Kap Tobin, Rune Dietz, press photo
Comments Off on East Greenland polar bears – said to be the most polluted but appear to be doing just fine
Posted in Life History, Pollution, Population, Sea ice habitat
Tagged contaminants, Davis Strait, diet, East Greenland, harp seals, hooded seals, movements, PBSG, PCBs, persistent organic pollutants, Persistent organohalogen contaminants, POC, polar bears, pollutants, POP, population assessments, seal pups, threatened, toxins, West Ice
This is a short discussion about research on polar bear penis bones, regarding a new paper that sent several of the Internet’s most juvenile science headline writers off the deep end.1
Short quiz first. Above are the penis bones (each called a baculum, plural bacula) of three marine mammals – one is from a bearded seal, one from a polar bear and another from a Steller sea lion. Which one do you think is the polar bear? Answer below.
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Comments Off on Polar bear penises not breaking due to PCBs – new paper full of “coulds” and “maybes”
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged baculum, breaking, East Greenland, environmental chemicals, PCBs, penis bone, polar bear, Sonne, toxins
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