Because -there’s no other possible explanation- global warming must be to blame.
Eric Worrall writes: In a sign that the climate alarmist camp has not only jumped the shark, but danced an intricate ballet while taking the leap, we now have the latest sign of the end times – global warming is being blamed for a gathering of walrus.
Apparently an estimated 35,000 walrus have gathered on Alaskan beaches, allegedly because they can’t find enough ice.
In the unenlightened old days, the appearance of 35,000 walrus would have been a cause for optimism, evidence that the species was doing well. But in this age of post normal science, such an event has to be interpreted as a portent of global warming – and so, by definition, it must be spooky and bad.
According to the WWF;
“The walruses are telling us what the polar bears have told us and what many indigenous people have told us in the high Arctic, and that is that the Arctic environment is changing extremely rapidly and it is time for the rest of the world to take notice and also to take action to address the root causes of climate change.”
If only we all had the ability to listen to the Walrus, like the WWF – the world would be a very different place.
==============================================
Climate Depot has a big special report on this nonsense:
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Walrus Whispering………….Shhhhhhhhhh, quiet, listen to what they are telling the world!!!!!!
What did they say?……give us your money!
Shhhhh! Be Vewy Quiet! I’m hunting Wawuses!
Why is the font so damn big now? Must be global warming.
Simple solution, build a series of Walrus Hunting Platforms that are anchored to the Shallows. After the Ice receeds in spring, an manned observation platform could then raise them to the Water surface Level allowing for the Wallies to hunt in the summer. Then in the winter, when the ice appears, the platforms could be lowered to a point below any ship’s draw for the winter season.
Those walruses were simply celebrating the 18th year of the “pause”.
Koo Koo Katchoo 🙂
By far my favorite comment. It has the appropriate amount of seriousness for this subject.
I think I saw Paul.
I thought it was goo goo ga joob.
A Walrus hiatus, you think? And why not, when almost any beach can be Wallyworld.
Question. Or questions. Where have these walruses been up to the point they descended on this Alaskan beach? The ice has been thinning all summer (which, I am led to understand is somethign that ice does during the summer). So why haven’t the walruses been showing up gradually over the course of the season.
Also, it says “This summer, the sea ice’s annual low point was the sixth smallest since satellite monitoring began in 1979.” That means there were five summer’s with even less ice over the past 35 years. Where were the walruses during those summers?
Non-government-funded minds want to know.
I believe this report, or something like it such as a polar bear story, pops up at the end of every September they can’t report that the Arctic ice is at its lowest point evuh.
I suspect that walrus prefer the beach to ice. Who wouldn’t?. Through the years I have seen several photographs of walrus sunning themselves onshore but never any photos of them on ice. The post is simply more alarmist invention.
And stampedes on the beach can be caused by a hungry polar bear, researcher’s helicopters who then claim global warming killed the pups.
It could be that it is colder then usual and they’re grouping together for warmth
Where were the walruses during those summers?
This might give some details:
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/10/02/35000-beached-walruses-still-cant-convince-the/200991
Congrats. You can copy and paste a bs article with absolutely no facts to back up their claims besides he said she said bullshit. This has happened more then twice. This is a natural occurance. Keep drinking the kool aid idiot.
Congratulations back to you justin for the speed of your name calling. Yes, I know nothing about the habits of walruses but at least I have the sense to appreciate that and read around the subject a bit before making pronouncements on what I do not know. You may notice I said the article may provide some of the missing details the other poster was asking for. It does provide some dates of walrus landings.
So, here is another article that you will probably dismiss without reading because it does not fit your bias. It says “Until 2007, it was unheard of for walruses to leave the sea ice for dry land for prolonged periods of time. But the retreat of sea ice has seen “drastic changes” in behaviour, Jay said. Walruses have struck out for beaches in six of the last eight years. “
I have no idea if that is true or not and I would need to research further. But I am capable of reading an article without dismissing it out of hand.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/01/walrus-alaska-beach-trampled-death
@justin
Both sides were guilty of simplification.
Or a better article than that last one, if you can haul that scepticism into gear and actually read it critically:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/03/walrus-alaska-beach-climate-change-arctic-ice
Some nice pictures:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2014/oct/01/walrus-mass-on-alaska-beach-in-pictures
An interesting supposition:
“It’s always the boys. Before 2006 I am not aware of any mass haul outs that included females on land,” she said.
It seems I did overlook a 2007 event which took place on a remote Russian beach in the Western Chukchi Sea, at some vague time noted as “late summer and fall.” I have updated my post accordingly, without erasing the original. I made a mistake and I corrected it.
However, in 2012 the sea ice was even lower – where did all the walruses go then? Accounts differ – WWF said on 5 October http://www.wwfblogs.org/climate/content/walruses-haul-out-along-russian-coast-4oct2012
“We and others expected large numbers of walruses to haul out in the area of Point Lay, Alaska, where they have hauled out in recent years. But most of the walruses instead opted to continue swimming far to the West, to haul out in the vicinity of Russia’s Cape Serdtse-Kamen where other walruses already were hauled out….Though we cannot yet confirm that large numbers of walruses are hauled out at the remote cape, that certainly was the case last year.”
[my bold, and note there is no mention of how many walruses WWF meant by “large numbers”]
USGS officials, however, reportedly said the animals were offshore (Nov. 14):
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/feds-lack-sea-ice-changes-walrus-behavior
“Despite record low ice this year, remnant ice floating off Alaska’s northwest allowed walrus to stay offshore.”
This BIGSTORY report did not say anything about haulouts in Russia or how many stayed on the remnant ice. As a result, both accounts are too vague to be of any use in assessing why tens of thousands of walrus sometimes huddle together in one place – and not always the same place.
The point is, it is not entirely clear what causes walrus females with calves to come together in such enormous numbers that the calves are at risk of trampling.
Lack of ice is a convenient excuse for recent events but it certainly was NOT the case for the incidents I mentioned from 1978 and 1972. Those are valid documented incidents of mass gatherings of females with calves that were reported in the scientific literature, at times and places when lack of ice was not a factor and when many trampling deaths occurred.
In 1978, the animals LEFT the ice near Point Lay to travel through open water to the haulouts on and around St. Lawrence Island; in 1972, there was ice around the Wrangel Island beach the walruses chose to haul out on.
Low ice coverage was not a factor in the late 70s, so it had to be something else. What? Perhaps a combination of factors, we simply don’t know yet.
But blaming the phenomenon entirely on global warming when the evidence clearly indicates that lack of sea ice in the Chukchi Sea cannot be the primary factor is not going to get anyone closer to the correct answer.
See also this post at Bishop Hill and its update: http://www.bishop-hill.net/blog/2014/10/3/walrus-inconsistencies.html
Susan Crockford, PolarBearScience
What? Perhaps a combination of factors, we simply don’t know yet.
Thanks for the reply Susan Crockford.
Personally, it’s the human race I fear for, and I’m serious. Rather than getting more intelligent, we’re holding on to the superstitions of yesteryear, and adding a higher level of stupidity that just beggars belief. I seriously fear for our future.
“I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time — when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness…
The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance” Carl Sagan ….
Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
For those who want the reference.
Gee, wasn’t there a movie about that – “Idiocracy” I think it was called. Sounds prophetic sometimes when I listen to some politicians.
Funny but sad how Sagan identified the obvious problems in education, but couldn’t (or wouldn’t) identify his own employers, co-employees, peers & political allies as right at the heart & cause of the problem.
“The planet’s fine. The people are f@ur momisugly#$ed. Difference!” – George Carlin (my generations comic philosopher extraordinaire!)
Yep. Professional comedians make the best philosophers…. and historians, and sociologists, and political scientists, and psychologists, and (fill in the blank). Just take a look at the many, many, many times over millionaire Jon Stewart.
I believe the interweb is making us all more stupider and stupider.
This trend has been happening long before the internet, as the Carl Sagan quote shows.
The internet liberated and gives us a chance.
A walrus orgy!!!!
If you’re interested, I’ve pulled together some details on two past incidents of mass haulouts, from 1972 and 1978 in the same general region (with quotes, maps, and references).
http://polarbearscience.com/2014/10/01/mass-haulouts-of-pacific-walrus-and-stampede-deaths-are-not-new-not-due-to-low-ice-cover/
Susan Crockford, PolarBearScience
Thanks Susan. Some of these basic statistics and dates you researched should be somehow included in the article above.
Susan,
I this what polar bear and walrus researchers look at during their breaks?
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FF8zHgUl.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2Fphotoshopbattles%2Fcomments%2F1p35fy%2Fscared_baby_walrus_and_her_trainer%2F&h=1804&w=2708&tbnid=MAMieulZgfV71M%3A&zoom=1&docid=3gPdwGMjRHolmM&ei=BmssVIi6CoafyQS1ioKgAg&tbm=isch&client=safari&ved=0CHoQMyg9MD0&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=1084&page=3&start=50&ndsp=31
Thank you for the additional info Susan.
OCT. 4: Note that I’ve done a bit more research (couldn’t resist, it’s an interesting puzzle) and have done another post regarding the size of the walrus population:
http://polarbearscience.com/2014/10/04/high-walrus-numbers-may-explain-why-females-and-calves-are-hauling-out-in-droves/
See what you think.
Susan Crockford, PolarBearScience
Thank you, Susan.
Wonder why all these “bright” folks coul not do the research themselves? How blatant can they be with the scaremongering and request for funds. Good Grief!
Thanks so much Susan. I’m out arguing this with people on a news thread right now actually.
Susan, many thanks. You get more than one shout out in the forthcoming book of essays.
Susan, apparently the “big deal” is about the location, Point Lay, lack of sea ice, and the large number of females involved. As if it’s unprecedented and it’s because of AGW. Are there any studies other than the one already shown, about the area in question and past ie pre 1950 low sea ice levels?
Oct. 2: NOTE I’ve just posted a follow-up, with Chukchi/Bering Sea ice maps from 1978 and 1972, that I’d forgotten are now available:
http://polarbearscience.com/2014/10/02/mass-gatherings-of-walrus-follow-up-sea-ice-maps-for-1978-and-1972/
Susan Crockford, PolarBearScience
Thanks Susan. If WUWT, like some newspapers, allowed readers to award ‘likes’ and then view comments in ‘most liked’ order, I would expect to see yours at the top.
Thanks Susan. I added your website to my favorites list. Your condemnation of the WWF is proper and well said. No time to look it up right now, so a question: Do walruses give birth on land, sea or ice? I have a niggling remembrance that they birth on land.
Walruses give birth on the ice, in spring.
Susan
Just imagine if their numbers hadn’t been reduced by 50% since 1970! We’d be up to our armpits in Walruses. We’d probably have a Walnado or perhaps even a Walricane hitting Nome any day now.
Robert, thanks for the bellie laugh.
Walnado… +1
The article wrings it hands about 50 of them dying. Given their lifespan of about 25 years, in a population of 35,000 one would expect 25 to die every week.
George,
That’s way too much science for global warming alarmists.
I think that’s about the same mortality rate as the various OccupyWallStreet protests several years back.
OMG, but if we could only save just one… it would be worth it…
Do I hear an echo?
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/10/16/update-trampling-not-climate-change-or-poaching-likely-cause-of-icy-cape-walrus-deaths/
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/09/20/walrus-gate-2-0-media-recycles-climate-change-claims-from-exactly-year-ago/
How many of these walruses have died multiple times? Can we at [least] celebrate that they’re pretty much sticking to the schedule?
They’re Chicago walruses. They can die as often as they’re needed to.
And vote after every death … As many times as needed.
Some historic numbers for Walrus Island in Alaska.
http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/lands/protectedareas/walrusislands/pdfs/historic_count_charts_2012.pdf
(from http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=walrusislands.species)
h/t Tom Nelson
College students from the Midwest gather on beaches in Florida during Spring Break; attributed to global warming, since there can be no other logical explanation for the behavior of college students from the Midwest
And how many of them die each year by drunkenly falling off hotel balconies? That’s due to global warming causing their beer to be warmer and thus more effective. /sarc
Never heard of family reunion …?
I expect they’re avoiding killer whales.
Maybe. Here is the Pacific Walrus under attack.
Occam’s razor?
Quoting Dr. Susan Crockford at Climate Depot, “this is blatant nonsense and those who support or encourage this interpretation are misinforming the public“. So what’s new? This is what the alarmists always do.
Yes. So what are (we) you going to do about it other than vent here?
That is a serious question. Anthony contributes this blog. Susan does hers. I wrote an ebook.
What will you and yours do? That is a mild challenge–just do something beyond here.
.
Were they carrying Occupy Wall Street placards? If not, how do we know that they were there because of global warming?
goo goo goo joob!
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/beatles/iamthewalrus.html
To my knowledge, there is NEVER any sea ice in the Chukchi Sea around Point Lay this time of year.
For a start there is not “35,000” walruses in that photo. I did a quick estimate based on the number of walruses I counted on the left of the “haulout” there is only an estimated 2500 to 3000 walruses maximum.
You must have missed the ones that are hiding with the missing heat.
Ha! There is another photo and there are substantially more walruses in it, between 10,000 to 12,000 maximum but this is still well below the 35,000 walruses quoted in the media.
Sparks,
The same folks did the guesswork that estimated the number of marchers at last month’s NYC climate rally…
Now that is actually believable… good one 😉
Baloney, that is a huge huge count of walruses. No made-up numbers here please…
Love the sarcasm… I challenge you to manually count each walrus in both images to show which estimate is closer to reality.
This calls to mind an old Peanuts comic strip (sorry Josh) in which Violet tells Linus that he is “Just plain stupid crazy”. That he “Acts like someone who has just fallen out of a tree” and that he is “Stark Raving Stupid.” I have the strip still and it is a priceless bit of simplistic abuse which applies perfectly to this bit of sophomoric nonsense.
The rest of the year (late summer and fall), walruses tend to form massive aggregations of tens of thousands of individuals on rocky beaches or outcrops.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walrus#Migration
We can’t think of anything else, so it must be climate disruption!
(is /sarc tag really necessary?)
no the /sarc tag is never necessary
How Walruses Work
Each summer, nine million pounds of walrus flesh packs the beaches of Round Island, off the southwest coast of Alaska in the Bering Sea. Scientists aren’t exactly sure why, but for a few months each summer, about 12,000 male Pacific walruses congregate on the two mile (3.2 km) long island. From the base of the cliffs to the bubbly surf, all you can see is walrus.
http://s.hswstatic.com/gif/walrus-1.jpg
http://animals.howstuffworks.com/mammals/walrus.htm
There must be a cow in there somewhere.
And Waldo.
O to be a walrus dentist!
They must get tired of the chill in the Arctic and take a summer break on the relative warmth of the Alaskan beaches.
Try sitting on ice for half an hour; then sand. Which is more comfortable? 🙂
There’s only one explanation…KEGGER!!!
Doggy bag, Doggy bag needed in back
With all those walruses on the beach, it’s a wonder the island doesn’t tip over! 🙂
That old Beatles’ song, I Am the Walrus, keeps running through my head since I read the above article. John Lennon wrote the song on purpose to be completely nonsensical, as an answer to some of the nonsensical lyrics Bob Dylan was getting away with at the time. I do believe that nonsense is the key to this latest climate alarmism fiasco – as a sidenote, apparently Lennon was high on LSD when he wrote the lyrics, as least, that is what he claimed.
So they are all named Paul?
Must be confusing. Some of them should go by “Bruce.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f_p0CgPeyA
Some would be name Eric, after Mr. Burdon of the Animals. He was the “Eggman” in the song – a nickname he received for doing censored kinda things.
But isn’t that answer exactly the “Catch 22” of Climate Change (er, New Age Liberal Wisdom and Intelligence) and Eco-Terrorism-by-Dictate?
If Lennon were on LSD when he wrote the song “The Walrus”, then he was out of his mind and didn’t know what he was writing or why he was writing, and thus the song cannot mean anything and is silly because the seond guy was obviously right and was doing crazy things. If he wrote the song to criticize another singer and his mindlessness and crazy ideas, then the first guy couldn’t have been out of his mind when he wrote it, so the second guy actually was crazy and out of his mind.
As you might know, one can be quite lucid under the influence of LSD.
Actually, he had heard that some liberal arts college had a course on psychoanalysing the lyrics of every beatles song. That pissed him off so much, he wrote that nonsensical song to piss them off in return.
Alarmists grasping at straws
I am reminded of a Supertramp song
” If everyone was listening you know, There would be a chance that we could save the show”
Watch what you say, or they’ll be calling you a radical. A liberal Fanatical, criminal.
“…the climate alarmist camp has not only jumped the shark, but danced an intricate ballet while taking the leap…”
That’s a nice turn of phrase and sums them up better than I ever could!