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A five-year study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) now concludes that the Caribbean Monk Seal is verified to be extinct. The cause of its disappearance is over-hunting by people for the seal pelts. These seals were always vulnerable when birthing or watching over their little pups, and of course, were utterly defenseless against humans with clubs. This is the only seal to have gone extinct due to human cause. The last recorded sighting of a Caribbean Monk Seal was in 1952, in the Caribbean Sea at Seranilla Bank, between Jamaica and the Yucatán Peninsula. They were listed as officially endangered in 1967 and added to the list, following a few unsubstantiated reports of sightings of the seals. Those sightings proved to be false. There are other monk seals in other parts of the world. It has been proposed that species that have gone extinct be removed from the endangered species list, since they no longer exist, but until that happens, they will remain on the list. Here is a description of the history of this seal, from NOAA:

"Caribbean monk seals were first discovered during Columbus’s second voyage in 1494, when eight seals were killed for meat. Following European colonization from the 1700s to 1900s, the seals were exploited intensively for their blubber, and to a lesser extent for food, scientific study, and zoological collection. Blubber was processed into oil and used for lubrication, coating the bottom of boats, and as lamp and cooking oil. Seal skins were sought to make trunk linings, articles of clothing, straps and bags. Scientists are unsure about exactly when Caribbean monk seals went extinct. Although there have been no confirmed sightings since 1952, it is conceivable that undetected seals persisted for a short period thereafter. The seals lived 20 to 30 years, so experts believe that some adults possibly lived into the 1960s or 1970s." www.noaa.com

Christopher Columbus named this seal "Sea Wolf." After its territory was populated with people, a lot of habitat was lost, and numbers began to dwindle then. There are none currently in captivity.

05-13-08 Click here for panda update after cyclone!

05-12-08 CYCLONE HITS MYANMAR IN MAY

A cyclone is the same as a hurricane, except in a different part of the world than the U.S. Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, in southeast Asia 11 days ago, and has left over 100,000 people dead or missing, and more homeless. The official death toll at this point is 28,000 people. 1.5 million people have survived the storm, but disease and hunger threaten them. Relief efforts are few, due to the military government's policy of allowing few people into the country. Finally, the U.N. was granted permission to land a plane with non-food emergency supplies such as tents. There are few people there available to distribute the goods. The World Food Program has now been granted permission to distribute 38 tons of high-energy biscuits. A U.S. military transport plane has now been cleared to land there with mosquito nets, blankets, and water. More aid has now arrived from Thailand and India. The International Red Cross had supplies on a barge to take to 1,000 people who were stranded in one area, but the barge has sunk after hitting a rock, and the supplies are now lost. The government there has announced over the past week, that some supplies may be welcome, however, workers from outside the country that may help distribute the supplies are not welcome. That may change now as time is slipping away for hundred of thousands of stranded people. Cyclone Nargis was a category 4 tropical cyclone. The following statement was made by NASA after the storm hit.

Wildlife found in Myanmar are a shrinking tiger population, leopards, wild boar, wild buffalo, elephant, rhino, and the jungle habitats support many more smaller animals, such as monkeys, cobras, pythons, crocodiles, parrots, and peafowl.

NASA - The first cyclone of the 2008 season in the northern Indian Ocean was a devastating one for Burma. According to reports from Accuweather.com, Cyclone Nargis made landfall with sustained winds of 130 mph and gusts of 150-160 mph, which is the equivalent of a strong Category 3 or minimal Category 4 hurricane. News reports stated that several thousand people have been killed, and thousands more were missing as of May 5.

Flood water can be difficult to see in photo-like satellite images, particularly when the water is muddy. This pair of images from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite use a combination of visible and infrared light to make floodwaters obvious. Water is blue or nearly black, vegetation is bright green, bare ground is tan, and clouds are white or light blue.

On April 15, rivers and lakes are sharply defined against a backdrop of vegetation and fallow agricultural land. The Irrawaddy River flows south through the left-hand side of the image, splitting into numerous distributaries known as the Mouths of the Irrawaddy. The wetlands near the shore are a deep blue green. Cyclone Nargis came ashore across the Mouths of the Irrawaddy and followed the coastline northeast.

The entire coastal plain is flooded in the May 5 image. The fallow agricultural areas appear to have been especially hard hit. For example, Yangôn (population over 4 million) is almost completely surrounded by floods. Several large cities (population 100,000–500,000) are in the affected area. Muddy runoff colors the Gulf of Martaban turquoise.

The high-resolution image provided is at MODIS’ maximum spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides twice-daily images of the region in additional resolutions and formats, including photo-like natural color.

BEFORE Myanmar (Burma) before the storm, April 15, 2008.

Satellite image of Burma showing Nargis flooding AFTER Myanmar (Burma) after the storm, May 5, 2008.

04-23-08 CARBON DIOXIDE, METHANE RISE SHARPLY IN 2007

Reprinted from NOAA with permission. www.noaa.gov

Last year alone global levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the primary driver of global climate change, increased by 0.6 percent, or 19 billion tons. Additionally methane rose by 27 million tons after nearly a decade with little or no increase. NOAA scientists released these and other preliminary findings today as part of an annual update to the agency’s greenhouse gas index, which tracks data from 60 sites around the world.

The burning of coal, oil, and gas, known as fossil fuels, is the primary source of increasing carbon dioxide emissions. Earth's oceans, vegetation, and soils soak up half of these emissions. The rest stays in the air for centuries or longer. Twenty percent of the 2007 fossil fuel emissions of carbon dioxide are expected to remain in the atmosphere for thousands of years, according to the latest scientific assessment by the International Panel on Climate Change.

Viewed another way, last year’s carbon dioxide increase means 2.4 molecules of the gas were added to every million molecules of air, boosting the global concentration to nearly 385 parts per million (ppm). Pre-industrial carbon dioxide levels hovered around 280 ppm until 1850. Human activities pushed those levels up to 380 ppm by early 2006.

The rate of increase in carbon dioxide concentrations accelerated over recent decades along with fossil fuel emissions. Since 2000, annual increases of two ppm or more have been common, compared with 1.5 ppm per year in the 1980s and less than one ppm per year during the 1960s.

Methane levels rose last year for the first time since 1998. Methane is 25 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, but there’s far less of it in the atmosphere—about 1,800 parts per billion. When related climate affects are taken into account, methane’s overall climate impact is nearly half that of carbon dioxide.

Rapidly growing industrialization in Asia and rising wetland emissions in the Arctic and tropics are the most likely causes of the recent methane increase, said scientist Ed Dlugokencky from NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory.

”We’re on the lookout for the first sign of a methane release from thawing Arctic permafrost,” said Dlugokencky. “It’s too soon to tell whether last year’s spike in emissions includes the start of such a trend.”

Permafrost, or permanently frozen ground, contains vast stores of carbon. Scientists are concerned that as the Arctic continues to warm and permafrost thaws, carbon could seep into the atmosphere in the form of methane, possibly fueling a cycle of carbon release and temperature rise.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 70 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.

04-23-08 TAME GRIZZLY KILLS TRAINER

California's "Randy Miller's Predators In Action" facility for training animals for movies had a tragedy this week: one of the trainers was attacked and killed by a tame 5-year-old grizzly named Rocky. This bear appeared in the movie "Semi-Pro" starring Will Ferrell as a guy who wrestles a grizzly. This bear stood 7 1/2 feet tall and weighed 700 pounds. Other movies that Randy's animals have been featured in include "Gladiator" (tigers), "The Postman," "The Island of Dr. Moreau," and "the Last Samurai." Animals trained there for the movies and television include wolves, bears, tigers, leopards, lions, and cougars. Some of their trained animals have appeared in documentaries produced by National Geographic and Discovery Channel. Captive predators are usually killed once they attack their trainers. This training facility has been in operation over 25 years and has never had an attack by any animal. 39-year-old Stephan Miller was bitten on the neck and died instantly.

03-21-08 NEW SUNSPOT COULD MEAN PROBLEMS ON EARTH

A red and orange image of the sun's corona with hotter areas of plasma shown in yellow

This image of the Sun's corona was taken with the Yohkoh Soft X-Ray

Telescope and shows the complex, hot plasmas that make up the corona.

Image Credit: NASA

Reprinted from NASA with permission. www.nasa.gov

What does a spot on the sun have to do with everyday life on Earth?

Quite a lot, as it turns out.

Scientists say the January appearance of a sunspot in the sun's Northern Hemisphere marks the beginning of what is expected to be an 11-year period of increased solar activity, which could have an important impact around the world.

Sunspots are localized areas of strong magnetic fields on the surface of the sun and are often signs of solar storms to come. Solar storms are powerful explosions of energy that erupt from the sun, blast through space and sweep past Earth. Such events can cause power outages and disrupt communications on Earth, and they can harm astronauts in space.

03-13-08 COOLEST WINTER SINCE 2001 FOR LOWER 48 . . . AND GLOBE

Reprinted from NOAA with permission. www.noaa.gov

The average temperature across both the contiguous U.S. and the globe during climatological winter (December 2007-February 2008) was the coolest since 2001, according to scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. In terms of winter precipitation, Pacific storms, bringing heavy precipitation to large parts of the West, produced high snowpack that will provide welcome runoff this spring.

A complete analysis is available online.

U.S. Winter Temperature Highlights

Map Courtesy of NOAA; Permission to CoveBear.com

In the contiguous United States, the average winter temperature was 33.2°F (0.6°C), which was 0.2°F (0.1°C) above the 20th century average – yet still ranks as the coolest since 2001. It was the 54th coolest winter since national records began in 1895.
Winter temperatures were warmer than average from Texas to the Southeast and along the Eastern Seaboard, while cooler-than-average temperatures stretched from much of the upper Midwest to the West Coast.
With higher-than-average temperatures in the Northeast and South, the contiguous U.S. winter temperature-related energy demand was approximately 1.7 percent lower than average, based on NOAA’s Residential Energy Demand Temperature Index.

U.S. Winter Precipitation Highlights

Map Courtesy of NOAA; Permission to CoveBear.com

Winter precipitation was much above average from the Midwest to parts of the West, notably Kansas, Colorado and Utah. Although moderate-to-strong La Niña conditions were present in the equatorial Pacific the winter was unique for the above average rain and snowfall in the Southwest, where La Niña typically brings drier-than-average conditions.
During January alone, 170 inches of snow fell at the Alta ski area near Salt Lake City, Utah, more than twice the normal amount for the month, eclipsing the previous record of 168 inches that fell in 1967. At the end of February, seasonal precipitation for the 2008 Water Year, which began on October 1, 2007, was well above average over much of the West.
Mountain snowpack exceeded 150 percent of average in large parts of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Oregon at the end of February. Spring run-off from the above average snowpack in the West is expected to be beneficial in drought plagued areas.
Record February precipitation in the Northeast helped make the winter the fifth wettest on record for the region. New York had its wettest winter, while Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Vermont, and Colorado to the West, had their second wettest.
Snowfall was above normal in northern New England, where some locations posted all-time record winter snow totals. Concord, N.H., received 100.1 inches, which was 22.1 inches above the previous record set during the winter of 1886-87. Burlington, Vt., received 103.2 inches, which was 6.3 inches above the previous record set during the winter of 1970-71.
While some areas of the Southeast were wetter than average during the winter, overall precipitation for the region was near average. At the end of February, two-thirds of the Southeast remained in some stage of drought, with more than 25 percent in extreme-to- exceptional drought.
Drought conditions intensified in Texas with areas experiencing drought almost doubling from 25 percent at the end of January to 45 percent at the end of February.

Global Highlights

The combined global land and ocean surface temperature was the 16th warmest on record for the December 2007-February 2008 period (0.58°F/0.32°C above the 20th century mean of 53.8°F/12.1°C). The presence of a moderate-to-strong La Niña contributed to an average temperature that was the coolest since the La Niña episode of 2000-2001.
While analyses of the causes of the severe winter storms in southern China continues, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory scientists are focusing on the presence of unusually strong, persistent high pressure over Eastern Europe, combined with low pressure over Southwest Asia. This pattern directed a series of storms across the region, while northerly low level flow introduced cold air from Mongolia. Unusually high water temperatures in the China Sea may have triggered available moisture that enhanced the severity of these storms.
Record Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent in January was followed by above average snow cover for the month of February. Unusually high temperatures across much of the mid- and high-latitude areas of the Northern Hemisphere in February began reducing the snow cover, and by the end of February, snow cover extent was below average in many parts of the hemisphere.
While there has been little trend in snow cover extent during the winter season since records began in the late 1960s, spring snow cover extent has been sharply lower in the past two decades as global temperatures have increased.

February Temperature Highlights

February was 61st warmest in the contiguous U.S. and 15th warmest globally on record. For the U.S., the temperature was near average, 0.2°F (0.1°C) above the 20th century average of 34.7°F (1.5°C), which was 2.0°F (1.1°C) warmer than February 2007.
Globally, the February average temperature was 0.68°F/0.38°C above the 20th century mean of 53.8°F/12.1°C.

03-07-08 OCEAN DESERTS ARE EXPANDING

Reprinted from NOAA with permission. www.noaa.gov

The least biologically productive areas of the oceans are expanding much faster than predicted, according to a new study by researchers at NOAA and the University of Hawaii. This change in ocean biology, linked to the warming of sea surface waters, may negatively affect the populations of many fish species trying to survive in these desert-like environments.

Between 1998 and 2007, these expanses of saltwater with low surface plant life in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans grew by 15 percent or 6.6 million square kilometers, according to the study which appears in Geophysical Research Letters. The expansion is occurring at the same time that sea surface temperatures are warming about one percent or .02 to .04 degrees Celsius a year. The warming increases stratification of the ocean waters, preventing deep ocean nutrients from rising to the surface and creating plantlife.

These barren areas are found in roughly 20 percent of the world’s oceans and are within subtropical gyres — the swirling expanses of water on either side of the equator.

“The fact that we are seeing an expansion of the ocean’s least productive areas as the subtropical gyres warm is consistent with our understanding of the impact of global warming. But with a nine-year time series, it is difficult to rule out decadal variation,” said Jeffrey J. Polovina, an oceanographer with NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service in Honolulu, who authored the study along with NOAA’s Evan A. Howell and Melanie Abecassis of the University of Hawaii.

The evidence of this expansion comes from data collected by a sensor aboard NASA’s orbiting SeaStar spacecraft. The Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor, called SeaWiFS, is a unique tool that maps ocean biological productivity around the globe. This visual sensor reads reflective color to measure the density of chlorophyll in phytoplankton, the microscopic plants that are the base of the marine food web.

The research showed that the areas of low productivity in the Pacific Ocean are expanding from the center toward Hawaii. In the Atlantic Ocean, the least productive areas of the subtropical gyre are expanding at an even more rapid rate eastward across the Caribbean toward Africa. The low-productivity zones, likened to deserts, now cover an estimated 51 million square kilometers in the two oceans. The least productive area of the Indian Ocean shows the same trend, but there has been too much variability for it to be statistically significant.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 70 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.

05-10-08 Click here to read about oceans!

01-13-08 POLAR BEAR BORN AT GERMAN ZOO

This polar bear was born at the Nuremburg Zoo. The reason that the zookeepers are now taking care of this baby polar bear, and he is not still with his mother, is because sometimes a mother bear does not want to take care of her babies. That happened here, and the zoo decided to take the baby from the mother.

Baby Polar Bear at the Nuremburg Zoo, in Germany

01-12-08 SAN FRANCISCO ZOO IN THE NEWS

The San Francisco Zoo (www.sfzoo.org) is under another wave of media coverage, after zoo handlers reported to the local newspapers that some other animals have tried to escape over the past week, a leopard who pushed his head through a small enclosure, and a polar bear, who came to the zoo wild, who nearly succeeded in climbing a wall of his enclosure and was pushed back with a fire hose. These incidents followed the escape of a large tiger on Christmas Day, who escaped and chased some people believed to be harassing the tiger, resulting in the death of one person. The zoo admitted that some of their walls that surround predator enclosures need to be higher and have begun making improvements to be more in line with AZA (American Zoo Association) guidelines. They are also working on improving their security, planning on putting into place a better procedure to work with law enforcement, as well as installing security cameras. The San Francisco Zoo regrets any accidents that happen, and always tries to do what is best for the public and what is best for the animals. The zoo will be working with many people to make sure that other predators, such as their big cats and grizzlies, are protected from escape. This zoo has been in operation many, many years, and has always been responsible and proactive in their protection of both animals and the public.

See other news at:

http://www.covebear.com/BlackBearIntro.htm

http://www.covebear.com/PolarBearIntro.htm

http://www.covebear.com/BrownBearIntro.htm

http://www.covebear.com/PandaBearIntro.htm

http://www.covebear.com/Great%20Smoky%20Mountains%20Intro.htm

ARCHIVED NEWS OF INTEREST: 2007

05-11-08 Click here to see a bear rescue from a bridge in 2007!

10-19-07 WILD PIGS ARE LARGE AND DANGEROUS

Below is a very large creature we encountered in a marsh in Florida.

No, it is not a black bear! Look again!

Wild pigs, in this case, boars, are very dangerous - keep your distance!

06-02-07 HUGE ALLIGATORS SEEN IN TEXAS

(Someone sent us these photos on email for our newsletter - however, we have no knowledge of ownership - if photos are copyrighted, please contact us.) Here are two photos taken by someone flying over Lake Conroe in Texas. This huge alligator is swimming fast with a full-grown deer in its mouth.

The third photo is of a truly monster-sized alligator found in a waterway behind some houses in Palestine, Texas, near Lake Conroe. Montgomery County Sheriff's Department was on the scene. Texas Parks and Wildlife officials had to do kill the gator because it was too large to relocate and it could not stay in a residential area - the alligator measured 23 feet 1 inch long. For perspective, the official walking behind the gator is 6'5" feet tall. It is speculated that this alligator may have been over 100 years old.

See our alligator tee shirt here - order one today!

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