Mountain Caribou lock antlers in a mock fight. Sadly I found out that two of these amazing animals were shot dead a few weeks after I took this shot from the same small herd in Northern BC. The situation has been described as dire for the Central Mountain Caribou population by the Federal Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). Numbers of Central Mountain Caribou across Alberta and B.C declined by 60 per cent between 2004 and 2014 to just over 500 mature individuals in 11 herds. Its so sad that we are not that far from a future of having no Mountain Caribou anywhere in the rocky mountains. The mountain caribou have evolved to deal with deep snow-packs and a complex life high in the mountains and are physically quite different from their northern arctic cousins and European reindeer who roam the vast frozen plains. Makes you wonder how you can control poaching in places like Africa if you can’t even stop shooting of endangered animals in a highly educated first world country like Canada.
Blue Butterfly on a Broad-nosed Caiman (Caiman Latirostris) - Cataratas Del Iguazu, Argentina
An an ABC Islands bear (Ursus arctos sitkensis) or Sitka brown bear taken on Baranof Island takes a rest against a stump in the rain. It is a subspecies of brown bear or grizzly bear that resides in Southeast Alaska and is found only on the ABC Islands (Admiralty Island, Baranof Island, and Chichagof Island) . The bear is slightly different to a standard brown bear in that around 6.5% of the X chromosomes from the ABC Islands bears have recently come from polar bears. This is in contrast to 1% of the ABC Islands bears genomes containing polar bear DNA. It is believed that the present polar bear DNA stems from a group of polar bears that were stranded in Southeast Alaska at the end of the last glacial period due to receding ice. Male brown bears migrated to the island and interbred, leaving the phenotype and genotype of these bears to be primarily brown bear. The story of the ABC islands bear is warning as to the future of all polar bears as the arctic continues to warm at twice the rate of the rest of the world and the fastest rate in measurable history. The media often focuses on the record low summer sea ice coverage which according to NASA is declining at a rate of 13.2% per decade and accelerating. However perhaps more startling is the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) report released in April on the age of arctic sea ice which provides a better indicator of the decreasing thickness of the ice and total ice volume. Ice older than one year covered 61% of the region in 1984, compared to just 34% in 2018. Only 2% of the Arctic’s sea ice is now five years old or older, compared to 30% in 1984. With several consecutive years of winter heatwaves in the arctic, the total surface area of the ice is now shrinking in across all seasons, not just in summer. Seems we are heading for an ice free summer arctic within 10 and 30 years from now. The bears have been known to weigh up to 680 kg (1,500 lb), standing up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) tall on their hind legs , or 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) at the shoulder when on all four legs. This shot was taken at Fortress of the Bear, a volunteer run refuge for orphanned bears. Sadly cubs are often left behind when their mothers are hit by cars or trucks, or when their mothers are shot for entering built up urban areas. Orphaned cubs that are human socialised though the rescue process are difficult to reintroduce to the wild, often spending their entire life in reserves such as this one if they are lucky enough not to be put down. The state of Alaska has no bear rehabilitation program in place, and unfortunately orphaned cubs are normally simply shot by the Department of Fish and Game for lack of an alternative. Sitka, Alaska.
