Moose are allegedly roaming right out of existence - Los Angeles Times
In the Upper Midwest, the animals are dying off in startling numbers. Biologists blame global warming.Tom Nelson: Search results for moose
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The primary culprit, scientists say, is climate change, which has systematically reduced the Midwest's already dwindling moose population and provoked alarm in Minnesota, where wildlife specialists gathered for a "moose summit" this month in Duluth.
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Temperatures tell much of the story. Over the last 40 years in northwest Minnesota, the average winter temperature has risen significantly -- 12 degrees -- and summers are 4 degrees warmer.
Solitary and grumpy, moose have made it clear in their estimated 13,000 years in North America that they hate warm weather.
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Although northeastern Minnesota is comparatively more moose-friendly -- greater shade, more opportunities to cool off -- the population is declining about 10% a year. Lenarz said the pregnancy rate was a little more than half the norm for moose, and mortality rates are two to three times the average.
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"I don't see the temperature change we're seeing as cyclical. The trend is definitely in one direction," Peterson said.
1. Note that the warming blanket of CO2 was so powerful in 1996 that a "vicious winter" and "deep snow" only resulted in a population fall from 2400 to 500.
2. Note that CO2 caused the summer of 2007 to be so hot that moose estimates only increased from 385 to 650.
3. Note that CO2 emissions so devastated the Scandinavian moose population that their numbers only grew 30-fold in the 20th century.
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