Tens of thousands of Reindeer starved to death because of two separate extreme weather events in the Arctic. The northernmost part of Earth lay buried in several inches of ice that was too thick for the creatures to smash and eat the vegetation.
After the recent death of 300 reindeer due to a massive lightning strike, climate change is being blamed for the death of more than 80,000 reindeer in the last 10 years. The weather conditions which obstructed access to food for the creatures is being attributed to global warming. Reindeer in the Arctic Russia starved to death in 2006 and 2013 because of unusual weather, claim researchers. Incidentally, the same weather patterns observed in the first half of November this year led to both the famines, which resulted in the death of 20,000 reindeer in 2006 and 61,000 in 2013. The research was published Wednesday in the journal Biology Letters.
Starvation kills 80,000 Russian reindeer after "unusual rains" cut off food https://t.co/iVrbo16UGq h/t @janeinak #climate pic.twitter.com/e1oPGYtm50
— climatehawk1 (@climatehawk1) November 17, 2016
Reindeer are amazingly resourceful and powerful creatures. They have evolved to survive in the harshest of climates with minimal food and water. Their hoofs are tough enough to stamp and smash through about three-quarters of an inch thick ice. They use their feet as axes to access nutritious lichen and other vegetation buried underneath solid ice.
However, in early November 2006 and 2013, the ice was far thicker. With the vegetation buried under several inches of ice, the reindeer were unable to break through and eat. Denied of the nutrition needed to survive the unforgivable climate, the animals perished from sheer hunger, reported New Scientist.
80,000-Reindeer Starvation Deaths Tied to Climate Change https://t.co/73QgUKXzKh
— Newsmax (@newsmax) November 17, 2016
Study author Bruce C. Forbes, an expert on permafrost ecology at the University of Lapland in Finland, described the weather events that created the ice as “rain-on-snow,” or ROS, reported the Washington Post. The phenomenon can be observed after a winter rainstorm. The rainfall in such cold climates hardens to form an impenetrable icy layer. Back in 2013, heavy rains saturated the entire snow column from top to bottom, forming a solid block of ice, frozen to the ground. Speaking about the phenomenon, scientists at the University of Finland said the following.
“While rain-on-snow does not cause problems in spring, it can be catastrophic for reindeer in the autumn when rain turns to an ice crust as normal freezing temperatures return. This crust, often several centimeters thick, prevents the reindeer from feeding on fodder beneath the snow throughout the winter months. Two extreme weather events in 2006 and 2013 caused mass starvation among the reindeer herds, and researchers for the first time have linked these extreme weather events in the coastal mainland in northwest Russia with sea ice loss in the adjoining Barents and Kara seas.”
North Pole reindeer are dying of mass starvation due to extreme weather https://t.co/B2LwgoikKr via @seeker pic.twitter.com/qBiboihsiC
— Climate Central (@ClimateCentral) November 16, 2016
It might seem ironic that global warming is increasing snow and rainfall in the Arctic. However, it is the ice loss in the adjoining areas, which offers a lot of open water. This water rises up due to the heat, turning into moisture along the way, which eventually reaches Arctic, and then rains down over the region. While the moisture available for rain was quite low at the turn of the millennium, the quantity has steadily increased over the last few years to the point that such extreme weather events are now increasingly common, pointed out Bruce Forbes at the University of Lapland.
“If we see such events again this year, it could mean that they’re becoming more frequent. Now is the risk window, and if it happens again, it will be a major problem for traditional reindeer herders still suffering from losses in 2013.”
https://t.co/G8NL3ODG1I
Reindeer in Arctic dying of mass starvation due to climate change #climate #wildlife #arctic pic.twitter.com/xNh3OSomcn— Fred Bentler (@Bentler) November 17, 2016
Researchers are proposing to deploy mobile slaughterhouses to salvage the situation. These abattoirs on wheels could be used to humanely slaughter the reindeer, and the meat could be sold to market, reported Siberian Times. Shockingly, the second-lowest level of sea-ice cover was recorded in the Arctic in September. Hence the chances of such mass-starvation of reindeer are quite high, caution researchers.
[Featured Image by Jonathan Nackstrand/Getty Images]
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