Save the Arctic Animals

Baffin Bay , a sea located between the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans , is as usual a sea of white during winter, as it almost completely freezes over. Everything is still, but suddenly, in a tiny crack between the icebergs, a creature surfaces. The most distinguishing feature of this creature is its unicorn-like tusk – except that it is much longer – almost three metres long. This creature is called the narwhal.

Narwhals, polar bears, seals, whales, walruses and many other animals call the Arctic region home. However, due to the effects of global warming, these extraordinary creatures may one day only exist in the pages of a book. Let's save the arctic animals, before it's too late!

 

What is Global Warming?

To understand the dangers facing arctic animals such as the polar bear and narwhal, we first need to understand the dangers facing our planet. Earth is an ideal place for life to flourish. It is covered by a layer of air – our atmosphere – which is essential for all living things. The atmosphere provides us with the oxygen that we breathe, acts like a blanket to keep us warm and protects us from deadly radiation from the Sun and flying meteors from outer space.

The temperature of the earth is regulated by the atmosphere. It does this by keeping the Sun's heat from escaping back into cold space at night. This is called the Greenhouse Effect.

Each time we breathe or burn something, we are converting oxygen in the air to carbon dioxide. Plants use this carbon dioxide to breathe and convert it back to oxygen, creating a balanced cycle.

However, if we increase our oxygen burning – for instance by burning a lot of coal or oil to generate electricity and run our cars or cut down trees, we increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. This makes the air a little heavier and it acts as a thicker blanket around our earth, warming it up.

The actual amount of warming is only a few degrees but it is enough to disrupt the delicate balance of nature – melt the polar ice, raise sea levels, cause violent hurricanes and endanger species such as the narwhals and polar bears.

 

The Polar Bear's Story

Polar bear cubs are born on land in dens or caves. In October, the polar bear mother will dig a den in a snowdrift and enter into a dormant state similar to hibernation. The cubs are born in December without awakening the mother bear. Finally, in March, the mother bear awakes from her hibernation famished after such a long period. She and her cubs must immediately hunt for food to stay alive.

Polar bears do not know how to hunt on land. They catch their prey from floating ice in the open ocean. The floating ice is located at the edge of the polar ice cap – a floating frozen mass that covers the North Polar arctic region. So, in March, the polar bear mother and her cubs swim from the land to the edge of the polar ice cap so that they can hunt.

Normally, this is a short swim, since the polar ice cap is very close to land in March. Polar bears, even babies are also good swimmers. However, due to the effects of global warming, the size of the polar ice cap has shrunk significantly. This means that the polar bears have to swim many kilometres from land – sometimes hundreds of kilometres – to find suitable hunting ground.

Swimming hundreds of kilometres when you are famished and weak and have hungry babies in tow is really tough and many polar bears are dying from drowning and starvation. The polar bear population is now endangered. If we do not reduce our carbon dioxide emissions, we could lose these beautiful animals forever.

 

The Narwhal's Story

The polar bears are not the only animals that are endangered because of global warming. The narwhals are facing the same danger.

While global warming is causing the ice in the arctic region to melt, it may be causing Baffin Bay – home to about 50, 000 narwhals during winter – to freeze. Scientists think this is because increased rains from global warming are changing the salt content of the ocean. This change shuts down North Atlantic currents which bring warm water from the Equator to the region. It may result in having colder temperatures and increased ice in Baffin Bay.

More and more narwhals are dying because of the increase in the amount of ice in Baffin Bay . You see, narwhals depend on the cracks in the ice to come up for air. Without these cracks, these creatures may drown or literally freeze “solid”. Nearly 150 narwhals died when they were trapped in a small hole in West Greenland in 1994.

Global warming is also killing off the Arctic cod, a major source of food for the narwhal. That is not all. Rising temperatures are leading other whale species which used to live in temperate waters, to the narwhal's habitat, forcing them to share their food, which is already depleting.

Narwhals are also facing other man-made dangers such as commercial fishing. If we do not protect these extraordinary creatures now, they may become extinct in the future.

 

What Can We Do to Save the Arctic Animals?

 To reduce the carbon dioxide in the air, we must conserve and produce energy without burning coal and oil. For example, we can use the Sun or the wind to generate electricity. Here are some things you can do to help:

- Switch off your lights, fans, electrical appliances when they are not in use.

- Grow a plant! (Make sure you ask Mum and Dad first.)

- Don't waste paper.

- Take public transport.

- Have short showers instead of long baths. Aim for five minutes, but make sure you get clean!