Penguins

Animals that live in the coldest parts of the world depend on ice for protection and a home. With the temperatures warming it is making the penguins more vulnerable and much easier for prey to get because the ice is getting thinner. You also have to think that penguins need to cross the ice to get to the breeding grounds and thats not easy if they are falling into the water and getting eaten.

What you probably don't know is that penguins have to worry about sunburns. They live in places where are reasonably cool. They have to hide there feet so they don't get burnt and for baby penguins it is even more dangerous. When baby penguins are born they don't have any feathers so there skin is more vulnerable from the sun rays. The penguins are then forced to go into the water to cool off making it very easy for predators to get them. 

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLeU5PRDUnAULeYWP0bpkjNzly1waEVM73TuwsWknnWhfZtRT6x6tb2gTdwOF0_wt8KgXB_Kd0wGCyrq_BQstExFHOdxHmuROL_Uz2NZ8eeQPqHiZSro_Egaz57_a_vGHcsafKaCuA7wc/s1600/march_of_the_penguins_300.jpg 

http://www.penguins-world.com/penguins-and-global-warming.html 

Snow Leopards Being Threatened

Snow Leopards live and prefer a habitat that is snowy, has steep cliff areas, ravines, and rocky outcrops. 60  percent of them are found mainly in China. They also range from Afghanistan to Kazakhstan and Russia in the north to India and China in the east. They are up in the mountains between 9,800 to 17,000 feet up and stay in snowy areas to make it easier to hunt because there coat is white/gray that it makes great camouflage. 

They prey mainly on wild goat, sheep, and sometimes small rodents, hares, and game birds. So as the world is being affected by global warming it is causing the snow to melt more and more and forcing the Snow Leopards to move up the mountain to be protected and survive with the snow. The further they travel up the mountain the vegetation becomes more scarce, which means the herbivores are in limited supply making finding food more difficult. 

They are only an estimation of 3,500 to 7,000 Snow Leopards left in the wild. No one really knows the exact amount because of there shy nature. We do know that there are only 600 to 700 Snow Leopards in zoos around the world. What we are doing is calling these animals and now they are on the list of "threatened". 

http://www.defenders.org/wildlife_and_habitat/wildlife/snow_leopard.php

Sharks Becoming More Dangerous?

As the temperature rises it is making it harder and harder for the sharks to live peacefully. They have been around and been able to evolve for millions of years and today they are coming in more contact with humans that they can't do anything. The warming waters is making their food in short supply and making them travel longer distances to get food. Some of their source of food that they eat is moving more to shore. They will follow wherever there food is and unfortunely it is where people swim, fish, and boat.

As the temperature rises more people want to be outside and go swimming making human and shark contact more realistic. A huge amount of people are taking over there eating grounds and the only way sharks can complain is to attack. People think that sharks attack just for no reason but what they don't know is the are just being instective.

A good thing about global warming with the waters is that it is making it easier for the endangered sharks to come back. An endangered shark that could use the Gray Nurse Shark. For example, in Australia they can now move through Bass Strait because now the waters are warm and they can use that area for more breeding.

Gray Nurse Shark 

Waterfowl Flyways Being Destroyed

Waterfowl are having to change their habitats,food sources, and migration cycles all because of climate change. The map below explains the problems in the four different flyways the ducks take:

1. Pacific Flyway: In this area they have a large amount of coastal marshes and estuaries along the Pacific Ocean coastline. Climate change can affect the sea level by rising it. On the land the changes could be dramatic also. The average mountain snowpack is having a significant decline and changing its patterns.

2. Central Flyway: One of the most important waterfowl breeding areas are the Prairie Pothole Region in North America on both sides of the U.S./Canadian border in the northern Great Plains. In this area there are many ponds and lakes that provide breeding habitats and as the temperature rises the ponds and lakes become dry or wet for shorter periods making it less suitable to breed. 

3. Mississippi Flyway: Shoreline wetlands of the Great Lakes provide critical habitats of breeding and migrating for Waterfowl and especially diving and sea ducks. By 2030 about 19-39 percent contribute to the decline of ducks. By 2100 about a possible of 3-34 inches of sea level will rise eliminating up to 45 percent of coastal wetlands.

4. Atlantic Flyway: Climate changer is expected to take effect of timing and distance of Waterfowls' migration. The affects of climate change is to mess with the shoreline wetlands of the St. Lawrence in the United States and Canada, which provides critical habitats for breeding and migrating Waterfowl.

Some ducks affected most by climate changes are:

*Canvasback Duck

*Blue-winged Teal

*Mallard

*Northern Pintail

http://www.birdnature.com/flyways.html

Warmer Waters Impacting Lobsters'

American Lobsters' are the symbol of Maine. They range from different areas on the coast line such as Long Island, Northern New Jersey and even t he mouth of the Bay of Fundy in Canada. Lobsters' are cold blooded animals and their body temperatures are determined by the temperature in the water. For cold blooded animals, raises in temperature mean they focuse on respiration and less on growth, reproduction, energy storage, energy for feeding, and their immune response. In the late 1900's a disease was discovered, but not much knowledge is not really known about it, called Lobster Shell Disease. It is caused by having the salt water temperature excell over 68 degrees F for a number of days, and by a bacterial infection in the carapace. In the Massachusetts' waters it has been dramatically more common and is move toward Maine and Canada. Lobsters' are being put under physiological stress caused by their demand for oxygen because the temperature rises over 69 degrees F their resperation rate increases. They respond to temperature changes by changing their habitat. The bacterial disease also affects the lobsters' rate of growth so that they obtain sexual maturity faster. Scientists and Fisherman are working together to find more information of Lobster Shell Disease and find out possible solutions.

A suprising fact that may be confusing is that the number of lobsters' are increasing in the Gulf of Maine. Warm waters spur longer growing seasons, and cause the eggs to hatch earlier and the warm waters also provide better conditions for lobster larval.

The temperature is causing diseases to these lobsters' but it is also bringing the local fisherman bring in more money. What would you do? Think about it.

http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/polar-bears/bear-essentials-polar-style/human-interaction/climate-change

Climate Change is Killing Polar Bears As We Speak

Polar bears are the top predators in the Arctic, and the reduction of ice means the reduction of their favorite meal; the Ringed seal. They are very dependent on the ice caps floating in the sea. They use them as a platform for hunting and resting. Polar bears use them also for transportation to food sources and for mating. The ice reduction, which is caused by the rising temperature of the sea, means the decrease in seal population and it increases the amount of energy needed to catch them.

The more time needed to catch the seals and other food sources, and just trying to survive means the less they mate. The less they mate the lower the polar bear population becomes. Studies show that the decreases is happening now, in the Hudson Bay the population of the bears have decreased by 22 percent. Some scientist have found out that that if some polar bears haven't drowned from getting to food then they have become cannibalism.