Where’s walrus? Scientists seek public “detectives” to spot giant animals from space
The animals are feeling the effects of climate change, the WWF warned, with their Arctic habitat and polar region warming almost three times faster than the rest of the world. The hunkering mammals rely on sea ice to rest, breed and feed — but it is fast melting. Roughly 13 percent of summer sea ice is disappearing per decade, according to the WWF.
If the ice disappears, the animals could be forced to rest on land instead, which means they would need to swim further and expend more energy to reach their food. They also predominantly give birth on the ice, so congregating on land could lead to dangerous overcrowding with fatal consequences, the conservation charity added.
“However, doing that for all the Atlantic and Laptev walrus will take huge amounts of imagery, too much for a single scientist or small team, so we need help from thousands of citizen scientists to help us learn more about this iconic animal.” In addition to melting ice, climate change is also causing the Arctic ocean to become more acidic, as it absorbs carbon dioxide, the WWF said, making it harder for animals that walruses feed off such as clams, sea snails and crabs, to thrive.
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