Hilarious stuff from Public Radio International
In the last 20 years, the moose population in the northern Midwest has declined. Researchers believe this may be due to climate change and warmer temperatures as well as an increase in the number of predators to moose.
I’d put my money on the predators being the major cause. If moose can’t deal with a massive 1.4 F increase in temperatures, perhaps they should be relegated to the ash heap of history.
Whether in the opening credits of Northern Exposure or in the fictional town of Frostbite, Minn., moose are most often associated with cold climates.
But Bullwinkle could become a rarity in Minnesota, as the moose population continues to decline.
“We’ve been seeing a long term population decline since 1990,” said Seth Moore, director of Biology and Environment for the Grand Portage Band of Chippewa in Minnesota. “We’re seeing lower number of bulls compared to cows, we’re seeing fewer calves on the landscape. So, we’re trying to determine what the causes are for the population decline. We’re concerned that moose are going in the same direction as the polar bear populations in the Arctic, and we hope that we can be effective before the population decline has gone too far.”
Part of the reason Moore believes the declining moose population may be similar to that of the polar bear has to do with climate change. He said the Chippewa area saw the lowest snow fall numbers in years. He referred to it as a “non-winter.”
We’re doomed! Except the polar bear populations are increasing and doing just fine.
And then we find out that the populations of wolves are up, who eat moose. And deer populations are way up, which increase parasites which end up in the moose. Of course, nowhere in the story are they able to prove that any warming since 1990 is caused by Mankind. You’re just supposed to infer it. I wonder how moose survived during the much warmer periods that occurred over the past 7,000 years?
