Saturday, December 31, 2005

Sweeping change reshapes Arctic

Facing a fight for survival A polar bear framed by the remains of a dead bowhead whale sniffs the air near the coast of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The number of bears seen during annual surveys near here has increased tenfold since 1992 — most likely because they are stranded on land by receding ice, which exposes them to disease and threats from grizzly bears and people. The world's top polar-bear scientists predict that the worldwide population, now at about 25,000, will fall by one-third in the next 35 to 50 years.