Thousands of Pacific walrus flocked to the northwest coast of Alaska last week as they were forced to come ashore to search for a place to rest near Point Lay.
The incredible sight has become an annual sign of the effects of climate change, as global warming continues to melt the Arctic sea ice that walrus use to dive for food while their pups rest, researchers said.
This forces them to then haul out for rest of land, as they cannot swim indefinitely.
Walrus have been coming to shore on the US of the Chukchi Sea in increasingly large numbers for about eight years and have also been seen coming ashore on the Russian side of the sea.
First spotted on the U.S. side of the Chukchi Sea in 2007, they returned in 2009, and in 2011, when scientists estimated 30,000 walruses along 1 kilometer of beach near Point Lay.
Last year, an estimated 35,000 walrus were photographed 5 miles north of Point Lay.
Hauling out on land is dangerous for younger walrus, who are at a greater risk for being trampled, ABC News reported.
The carcasses of more than 130 mostly young walruses were counted after a stampede in September 2009 at Alaska's Icy Cape.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service issued an appeal last week for people to stay away from the large gatherings of walrus ashore, as humans, along with polar bears and low-flying airplanes, are known to trigger stampedes.
It could also be more difficult for the walrus to find sufficient food closer to shore.
The World Wildlife Fund in Anchorage said the walrus haulouts were a 'striking example' of climate change's immediate impact on wildlife.
'The Arctic is experiencing the brunt of climate change like no other region, warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet,' it said in a statement.
'Such extreme events are a stark reminder of the urgent need to ratchet down the emissions that are warming our planet.'
(dailymail.co.uk)
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