Stacked on top of each other lifeless. In the Arctic, 200 reindeer and deer have died of starvation due to climate change, according to researchers who have found hundreds of corpses of reindeer and deer in the Svalbard archipelago.
Stacked on top of each other lifeless. In the Arctic, 200 reindeer and deer have died of starvation due to climate change, according to researchers who have found hundreds of corpses of reindeer and deer in the Svalbard archipelago.
An unusually high number and for this reason, they point the finger at climate change. Each summer, researchers from the Norwegian Polar Institute map the deer and reindeer populations, but this year they were faced with a terrifying scenario that hasn't occurred for over forty years.
"It's scary to find so many dead animals," says the project leader, Ønvik Pedersen. This is an example of how climate change affects nature. Is sad".
As we have documented many times, the Arctic is melting fast and the consequences are dire.
UNUSUALLY MANY REINDEER CARAVAS True to tradition, we have also counted reindeer this summer in the valleys around Longyearbyen and…
Posted by Norsk Polarinstitutt on Monday, July 22, 2019
“Climate change makes it rain a lot more. The rain falls on the snow and forms a layer of ice on the tundra, which means that the grazing conditions for the animals are very bad, ”he explains again.
This means that deer and reindeer have a hard time finding food because layers of ice prevent their hooves from accessing the lichens. But not only that, according to experts there are over 22 thousand animals and food is not enough for everyone.
About 200 reindeer found dead from starvation in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard in the #Arctic, a consequence of climate change (photos @NorskPolar) https://t.co/ERIaNwVKxk #AFP pic.twitter.com/b4GTPwbHIr
— P_Deshayes (@P_Deshayes) July 29, 2019
Reindeer and deer are essential to the Arctic ecosystem because while global warming facilitates the proliferation of various weed plant species, these animals, the largest herbivores in the region, can help maintain balance.
Read also:
- The Arctic is burning, more than 100 fires have broken out in Siberia and Alaska: the ice is melting
- Arctic heat: the North Pole is under attack and in danger of disappearing
Dominella Trunfio
