Originally posted on Dear Kitty. Some blog:
https://youtu.be/u69bPBUY-yg This 8 October 2018 video says about itself: The Arctic Tern, the longest known migration known in the animal kingdom. It was long believed that Arctic terns flew about 22,000 miles (35,200 km) on their journey from the Arctic region to Antarctica and back. Recent studies, however, revealed that the birds actually fly much farther. Tiny instruments called geolocators were attached to a number of birds. About the weight of a paper clip, these amazing devices revealed that some terns flew an average of 56,000 miles (90,000 km) on the round-trip—the longest animal migration known. One bird flew nearly 60,000 miles (96,000 km)! Why the revised estimates? No matter where they began their migration, the Arctic terns flew an indirect route. As shown in the illustration, a common Atlantic Ocean route took an S shape. The reason? The birds simply take advantage of prevailing wind systems. During their lifetime of about 30 years, terns may travel well over 1.5 million miles (2.4 million km). That is equal to three or four round-trips to the moon! “This is a mind-boggling achievement for a bird of just over 100 grams [3.5 ounces]”, said a researcher. What is more, because Arctic terns experience the summers at both poles, they see “more daylight each year than any other creature”, states the book Life on Earth: A Natural History. From Newcastle University in England: Overland migration of…

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Originally posted on The Extinction Chronicles:
The lawsuit challenged leases issued in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado in 2015 and 2016, during President Barack Obama’s administration. Trinidad Drilling rigs are seen off of Way Highway 59 outside of Douglas, Wyo on March 5, 2013. A judge has blocked oil and gas drilling on almost 500 square miles in Wyoming and says the government must consider cumulative climate change impacts of leasing public lands across the U.S. for energy development. Leah Millis / The Casper Star-Tribune via AP file March 20, 2019, 6:31 PM PDT By Associated Press BILLINGS, Mont. — A judge blocked oil and gas drilling across almost 500 square miles in Wyoming and said the U.S. government must consider climate change impacts more broadly as it leases huge swaths of public land for energy exploration. The order marks the latest in a string of court rulings over the past decade — including one last month in Montana — that have faulted the U.S. for inadequate consideration of greenhouse gas emissions when approving oil, gas and coal projects on federal land. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras in Washington appeared to go a step further than other judges in his order issued late Tuesday. Previous rulings focused on individual lease sales or permits. But Contreras said that when the U.S. Bureau of Land Management auctions public lands for oil and gas leasing, officials must consider emissions from past, present and foreseeable future oil…

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Originally posted on Dear Kitty. Some blog:
https://youtu.be/De8vZW8ws6o This September 2018 says about itself: Cute Sea Otter Behaviour Decoded From holding paws to rubbing their faces, sea otters are otter-ly adorable. But why do they do it? Discover the science behind the cute. From the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany: Sea otters’ tool use leaves behind distinctive archaeological evidence Researchers used an interdisciplinary approach combining ecology and archaeological methods to study sea otters’ past behavior March 14, 2019 An international team of researchers has analyzed the use by sea otters of large, shoreline rocks as “anvils” to break open shells, as well as the resulting shell middens. The researchers used ecological and archaeological approaches to identify patterns that are characteristic of sea otter use of such locations. By looking at evidence of past anvil stone use, scientists could better understand sea otter habitat use. Sea otters are an especially captivating marine mammal, well known for their use of rocks to break open shells. Sea otters are estimated to have once numbered between 150,000-300,000 individuals and their range stretched from Baja California, Mexico, around the northern Pacific Rim to Japan. Their numbers were dramatically reduced by the fur trade. In California, the southern sea otter population was reduced to around 50 individuals, but a massive conservation effort has resulted in increasing their numbers to around 3000 today. However, the southern sea otter is still considered…

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Originally posted on The Extinction Chronicles:
This dangerous ice loss can be reversed, and the emerging field of climate restoration is yielding surprising solutions to the challenges of global warming. PETER FIEKOWSKY MAR 6, 2019 https://psmag.com/ideas/we-already-have-effective-ways-of-restoring-arctic-ice The crew of patrol vessel KV Svalbard and scientists from the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research play football on a floe of offshore ice on March 22nd, 2018, in the sea around Greenland, while two armed guards keep watch for polar bears. (Photo: Marius Vagenes Villanger/AFP/Getty Images) A series of scientific reports released in the last few months found that Arctic ice is melting at an accelerated and catastrophic rate—the fastest rate in the last 350 years. If it continues at that rate, the Arctic could be completely free of summer ice by the year 2030, or even sooner. The most recent study, which concentrated on the southwest part of Greenland—a region with few large glaciers, and one which was previously not expected to be a significant source of ice loss—found that if the atmosphere continues to warm, southwest Greenland will become “a major contributor to sea level rise.” What has not been reported widely is that this dangerous ice loss can be reversed, and the emerging field of climate restoration is yielding surprising solutions to vexing problems. HOW ARCTIC SEA ICE DISAPPEARED—AND WHAT IT MEANS Arctic sea ice has lost 80 percent of its volume since 1979, and the Arctic Ocean is increasingly ice-free in…

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