Climate change is seriously messing with the bear population. Polar bears and grizzly bears have both been called endangered, even if that label isn't official, and now the paths of both types of bear are crossing thanks to warming temperatures. Not only are they coming in contact, they're finding time for some bear lovin' as well, with the result being the newly-coined "grolar bears," a hybrid of the two species.

The cross-breed was discovered two years ago when a white bear with brown spots was shot to death in northern Canada. Results from a DNA test showed it was a "grolar bear," and likely the offspring of a male grizzly and female polar bear.

Biologist Dr George Divoky, who has worked in the Arctic region for over three decades, said: “One of the real things that is happening is that grizzlies are moving north, at the same time the polar bears are forced to be on the beach and we have found a number of grizzly bear polar bear hybrids. Essentially that could mean that it would save the polar bear genes in the grizzly population.”

Divoky is a scientists with the Institute of Arctic Biology and studies the Guillemot sea bird on the northern coast of Alaska. According to him, the occurrences of polar bears searching for food on the island where he lives while conducting his research.

And Dr Divoky had a message for climate change sceptics, saying: “Having a polar bear show up in your front yard is one of the more compelling pieces of evidence that climate change is real.”

All it will take to mitigate the seriousness of this situation is for a baby "grolar bear" club to be born. Once pictures spread and a new cub experiences the same fame as Flocke and Knut, no one will remember what the implications of the hybrid bear even are.

» The Sun

The number of honey bee deaths in the U.S. is getting worse, according to a study by the Apiary Inspectors of America. Since last year, slightly more than 36 per cent of commercially managed hives in the country have collapsed for reasons such as disease, pesticide drift and the parasitic varroa mite. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a disease that causes bees to abandon their hives, is blamed for approximately 29 per cent of bee deaths.

According to Dennis vanEngelsdorp, the president of  the organization who conducted the survey, it is next to impossible to find a trend since the colony deaths have only been measured for two years, however he warned that the rate at which bees are dying are at unsustainable levels and not showing improvement.

"For two years in a row, we've sustained a substantial loss," he said. "That's an astonishing number. Imagine if one out of every three cows, or one out of every three chickens, were dying. That would raise a lot of alarm."

"What's frightening about CCD is that it's not predictable or understood," vanEngelsdorp said.

So far $86,000 has been directed toward to the study of CCD, with federal grants and companies like Haagen-Daazs, who rely on honey bees, contributing to emergency research funds.

Considering that over half the world's population could starve to death if bees were to cease to exist, $86,000 sure doesn't seem like very much money to devote to research of CCD. If the government is too distracted by the current global food crisis due to biofuels and population growth, they might want to pay attention for a few minutes and acknowledge the seriousness of a disappearing bee population. If bees continue to die off and official are worried about the state of the food supply now, they ain't seen nothing yet.

» MSNBC Environment

On Monday we wrote about the theory some scientists have claiming global warming and overfishing could be increasing the number of incidents where sharks attack human beings.

Or perhaps there are just a lot of idiots roaming the beaches of California and Mexico pulling stunts like the guy you'll see in the video below. Welcome to the activity of shark surfing. The concept is simple. Step 1: Take a few big hunks of bloody meat and tie them to the end of a fishing line. Yes, we'll call it bait. Step two: Toss your surfboard over the side of a boat, followed by the baited line and then jump in after them. Step 3: Mount your surfboard and grab the other end of the fishing pole. Step 4: Wait for Jaws to find you (or rather the baited end of the line). Say a silent prayer that he grabs the proper end of the fishing line. Step 5: Hang on while you go on the ride of your life. Step 6: If you're on the beach observing this, ponder the great mystery of why natural selection hasn't taken care of yahoos like this guy.

Watch the clip below and decide for yourself: awesome of asinine?

» YouTube

The Macaca mulatta monkeys who make their home in a Japanese wildlife park are really fat. As in so fat that approximately one-third of their population have trouble moving around. Picture Homer Simpson after a few more pizzas and Duff beers and you'll start to get an idea of just how fat these monkeys have gotten. And it's not due to an abundance of bananas in their habitat either. Tourists are actually the culprits taking the blame for the grotesque obesity of these creatures since they're the ones who have been overfeeding the animals.

Now the monkeys are being paid a visit by their local Weight Watchers representative. Alright, maybe not exactly Weight Watchers, but they have been put on a strict diet by officials at Ohama park in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture. While they may not be forced to buy overpriced diet plan food or hit the treadmill on a daily basis, the monkeys will be restricted as to what they can eat and kiss the days of tourist treats goodbye.

» Daily Mail

Is taking out a full-page apology ad in some major daily newspapers adequate penance for a company responsible for the deaths of 500 ducks? Syncrude Canada hopes so, but Greenpeace says no way.

Last week it was revealed that Syncrude, a major oilsands player in Alberta, was responsible for a toxic pond that killed 500 ducks that landed in it. The company admitted they had not provided noisemakers that are supposed to be implemented to prevent this exact type of incident from occurring. Tom Katinas, Syncrude's head honcho, signed the apology that ran in newspapers this past weekend, but Greenpeace says that's not enough.

"The ties between government and industry run too deep. The premier holding Syncrude to account and not holding his own government to account is definitely a flaw in serving the public interest," said Mike Hudema, climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace Canada.

Greenpeace wants to see an independent public inquiry conducted to prevent future incidents such as this from happening. The organization maintains that companies found in violation of environmental regulations and laws need to be held accountable for their actions, which would ideally include a stricter penalty than the $1 million fine currently issued to offending companies.

"For them, a million dollars is pocket change and is the cost of doing business," Hudema said.

Though Greenpeace can walk the fine line between simple activism and extremism, they certainly aren't wrong in their assessment that $1 million doesn't often mean a whole lot to an oil company, especially not to one of the biggest operations in the world. In all likelihood, Syncrude is smarting more from their tarnished reputation than any fine levied against them, which explains their attempt at a public apology. The question really isn't about whether the apology was sincere or not, but rather will oil companies take heed from the incident and clean up their act (literally)? And if not, what exactly will it take to do that?

» All Headline News

Beauty the bald eagle may not look like the bird you would expect to see when you hear her name. Early in her young life, Beauty was seriously wounded when part of her beak was shot off. She hasn't been able to properly preen her feathers since that time and even something simple like taking a drink of water has proved difficult with the stump she was left with.

That's all about to change with the new artificial beak designed and created especially for her by a team of individuals, including Jane Fink Cantwell, a biologist with the Birds of Prey ranch, a raptor recovery center in Idaho. Cantwell has worked to form a team, including a mechanical engineer, a dentist and a veterinarian, that will attach a nylon-composite beak to Beauty. The beak will hopefully allow her to grip and eat the food fed to her with more ease, as well as drink water. The new beak will allow her to live to see her 50th birthday, though she will never be able to live in the wild again.

Beauty was found in an Alaskan landfill in 2005 as she desperately searched for food. She was missing most of her curved upper beak and her tongue and sinuses had been left exposed, making it impossible for her to cut and tear the flesh from prey. She spent the first two years after her rescue being handfed in Anchorage, but when a new beak failed to grow and her caretakers could no longer afford to care for her and were contemplating euthanizing the young bird, she was transferred to the Idaho ranch for further care.

The beak was designed by a mechanical engineer and will be glued onto Beauty. If the glue doesn't not stick properly, the beak will be screwed in. The idea of using screws was initially vetoed though due to risks from the injury being close to Beauty's eye and brain.

Though Beauty will never live in the wild again, Cantwell is hopefull she'll lead a productive life and be able to breed or act as a mother to orphaned bald eagles, but ultimately that she'll serve as a lesson to others.

"She's a miracle recovery patient from her initial injuries," she said. "She will be a huge educational tool, primarily to instruct people on why we should not shoot raptors and why they are beneficial to the environment."

"Give me an hour with a third or sixth grader and they will never shoot a raptor." Shooting a bald eagle, though they are no longer on the endangered species list, remains a violation of federal law.

» CNews

Two fatal shark attack incidents in California and Mexico last week have prompted experts to speculate as to why the attacks are becoming more frequent. Their theories? Too many people, too much fishing and global warming.

So far in 2008, the International Shark Attack File has recorded four fatal shark attacks compared to the one that occurred during the course of last year. Some are blaming a growing population, simply saying that because there are more people in the ocean, there are more humans for sharks to attack.

"The one thing that's affecting shark attacks more than anything else is human activity," said Dr George Burgess of Florida University, a shark expert who maintains the database. "As the population continues to rise, so does the number of people in the water for recreation. And as long as we have an increase in human hours in the water, we will have an increase in shark bites."

Burgess says that there is also speculation that overfishing may be interfering with the sharks' food supply, as well as the possibility that the warming temperature of the sea is contributing to the problem.

'You'll find that some species will begin to appear in places they didn't in the past with some regularity,' he said.

Now a wildlife protection group is crying foul after 10 sharks have been slaughtered in Mexico near the beach where the incident in that country took place. Wildcoast says Mexican officials have created "international shark hysteria" and are using it as an excuse to kill members of the species.

'They more than likely had nothing to do with the attack. Since sharks are threatened in Mexico, this is the worst type of vengeance security imaginable,' said Aida Navarro, the group's wildlife conservation programme manager.

Gee Aida, nobody is condoning the slaughter of sharks, but it's probably safe to assume the "hysteria" was actually caused by JAWS ripping a 34 centimeter hole in a guy's thigh and the death that occurred as a result.

» Guardian

How do you comfort a baby monkey that wants her mother? Give her a teddy bear of course! At least that's what they've done in the case of Conchita, a white-naped mangabey monkey born three weeks ago at the London Zoo. Her mother is still healing from the caesarean section she underwent while giving birth to Conchita, who is being hand-reared by zoo staff for the time being.

Conchita was given a teddy bear for companionship and is under the impression the toy is actually her mother. Thankfully the bear isn't expected to return the affection and the zoo has appointed Conchita a real, living keeper named Andrea (whom Conchita also seems quite fond of).

The white-naped magabey are on the critically endangered species list as they have experienced a loss of habitat in their native West Africa.

 
 

» Daily Mail

Sea lions aren't the only ones being told to stay away from West Coast salmon. The dwindling salmon population led to a government announcement yesterday that most of the ocean on the West Coast would be closed to salmon fishing. The decision will allow state governors to apply for federal relief aid to the tune of $290 million.

"Today NOAA's Fisheries Service will close most of the West Coast salmon fisheries based on the recommendations of the Pacific Fisheries Management Council," James Balsiger, acting assistant administrator of fisheries, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said, citing "low returns of fall Chinook salmon to the Sacramento River system."

Climate change and those adorable-but-pesky sea lions are being blames for the significant decline of the West Coast salmon population, thought they haven't officially declared either to be responsible for the "sudden collapse."

Those who love wild salmon as a source of healthy omega-3 fatty acids will face an increase in the cost of the fish, with only 60,000 salmon - about one-third of a healthy population -  expected to return to the Sacramento River this year.

"Given skyrocketing gas and food prices, getting aid to these fishing communities quickly is critical," Oregon Senator Gordon Smith said in a statement. "It's a matter of survival. This declaration allows us to begin pushing for funds immediately."

» Reuters Environnment

Zoos in Germany seem to get their fair share of cute animals. First Flocke, the adorable polar bear cub made her official world debut at the Nuremberg City Zoo in March and now the Berlin Zoo has their own baby animal to show off.

Manjula, an Indian rhino, was born just this past Sunday but it seems she's already discovered that she loves the spotlight and happily posed for a group of photographers. In face, she seems pretty patient already given she's just a few days old.

Only about 3,000 Indian rhinos still live in the wild, classifying them as an endangered species.

Watch the video below to see Manjula's first brush with fame.

» Reuters