“Long term and meaningful conservation success really is only possible if NGOs and photographers work together – very often also working with scientists. If you can get those three sectors working together, you’re pretty much a non-stoppable force.”

Thomas Peschak, Conservation Photographer and iLCP Fellow

The International League of Conservation Photographers has pulled together an unstoppable force to launch a conservation campaign on behalf of a rare and threatened double-barrier coral reef called Danajon Bank. Four iLCP photographers, including Thomas Peschak, will travel to the Philippines in April to visually document this 90-mile reef system. More than a year in the making, our two-week photo expedition is a collaboration between NGOs, photographers and scientists, all of whom are interested in conserving this unique marine ecosystem – one of only six double-barrier reefs in the world.

iLCP is teaming up with Project Seahorse to reveal for the first time the full beauty of Danajon Bank and the imminent threats it faces. Pictures will be taken by Peschak and another three of the world’s finest marine photographers: Luciano Candisani, Claudio Contreras, and Michael Ready. This international team hails from South Africa, Brazil, Mexico and the United States (respectively). Joining our photographers will be pre-eminent marine biologists Dr. Amanda Vincent and Dr. Heather Koldewey of Project Seahorse and the Zoological Society of London.

Making this project even more powerful is our newest partner Net-Works, which is establishing a community-based supply chain for discarded fishing nets that will improve the livelihood of local fishers while providing an innovative source of recycled materials for sustainably manufactured carpet tiles. For iLCP, there is a great synergy in this project, as Net-Works’ triple bottom line approach to conservation (securing environmental, economic and social benefits) fits well with our mission to further environmental and cultural conservation.

All totaled, our team of photographers, biologists, conservationists and sustainability minded businesses is clearly an unstoppable force for conservation. We have launched Expedition Danajon Bank with the ultimate goal of securing legal protections for the fragile, 90-mile reef system. As photographer Luciano Candisani explains in a video about the project, “By getting this story out into the world, we hope to inspire new environmental protections for Danajon Bank.

About Coral Reefs and Danajon Bank

Coral reefs are among the fastest-diminishing ecosystems in our oceans, thanks to overfishing, pollution, and climate change. Little-known to the outside world, Danajon Bank is one of the most important marine ecosystems in the entire Pacific Ocean. Species located all over the Pacific are thought to have first evolved at Danajon Bank.

This “center of the center” of marine biodiversity is home to at least 200 threatened animals, such as the elusive tiger-tail seahorse. The region encompasses many of our oceans’ most important and threatened marine habitats, including not just coral but mangroves and seagrasses. The Danajon Bank is also home to hundreds of thousands of people who depend on it for food and livelihoods.

Unfortunately, Danajon Bank faces many threats, including overfishing and destructive fishing practices (such as blast fishing with explosives), as well as overdevelopment and climate change. With so much at stake, it is time to launch a campaign that highlights Danajon Bank and all the species – including humans – that depend on it. And as photographer Tom Peschak explains, “There really is no better way to communicate the urgent need for marine conservation than through images that hit you in the head and the heart.”

Comprehensive Portrait of a Timely Conservation Issue

Expedition Danajon Bank is the type of photo expedition iLCP is best known for, where our photographers produce a comprehensive portrait of a timely conservation issue and threat — imagery we then use to support a conservation program, project, or campaign.

Beginning in June, photographs from Danajon Bank will be shown in public exhibits at aquariums in Chicago, Hong Kong, Manila and London. iLCP and Project Seahorse will also publish a hardcover book about Expedition Danajon Bank. Also, our photographers will share stories from the expedition in National Geographic News Watch and other media outlets. All of these communications efforts will bring increased world attention to this global marine treasure in need of protection. As Project Seahorse Director Amanda Vincent points out, “Not many people have heard of Danajon Bank, and we plan to change that.”

To learn more about our project, and how you can help conserve Danajon Bank, please visit our project page. With your help, Expedition Danajon Bank and our follow-up public education and legal protection campaign will inspire people and influence policymakers in the Philippines and around the world to take up the cause of conserving Danajon Bank. We hope you’ll become part of this unstoppable force!

Map of Philippines. Google Maps.

Danajon Bank. Sat Images

iLCP Photographer Thomas Peschak. Courtesy www.thomaspeschak.com

iLCP Photographer Luciano Candisani. Courtesy www.lucianocandisani.com

iLCP Photographer Claudio Contreras. Courtesy www.claudiocontreras.com

iLCP Photographer Michael Ready. Courtesy www.michaelready.com

“It is really strong to show the people that we are burning something that has value,” said Maximiliano Bello, Senior Advisor for Global Shark Conservation to the Pew Environment Group.  “But we needed to do that because there is still some illegal fishing going on, and it’s important to show people that fishing sharks is illegal.”

With its declaration of making the nation’s entire maritime waters a shark sanctuary, Honduras provides legal protection to sharks from fishing and prohibits trade in their parts or derivatives. This is an important step to conserving these apex ocean predators.  Implementing management strategies for sharks that help reduce their by-catch by other fisheries, limits illegal trade and identifies ways to expand their conservation to neighboring countries is essential to their survival.

The Center for Marine Ecology, based in Tegucigalpa, is working with local fishing communities and government officials to implement sustainable fishing practices that help ensure the long-term health of the marine ecosystems of Honduras.  “We want to reorient these fishermen, so they can take advantage of the resources that are abundant, said Dr. Steve Box, Executive Director of the Center for Marine Ecology. “This needs to be done in a sustainable way, so they don’t need to catch sharks. We need sharks in the ocean.”

The International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP):

iLCP enlists the skills and expertise of some of the best conservation photographers in the world to advance conservation efforts around the world.  iLCP is currently working with the Honduran-based Center for Marine Ecology to capture—in both images and video—the story of innovative community-driven efforts to conserve marine biodiversity and provide sustainable livelihoods in the Honduran Mesoamerican Reef region.

A small teak forest in India’s western state of Gujarat is home to some of the last wild Asiatic lions in this world. And yes, you read that right – lions.

Not many people know about these lions and when I decided to go there to work on a personal project about endangered wildlife in India I was often asked if I wasn’t mistaken, and was thinking maybe about the better known Bengal tigers.

But, no, India does have a small population of a subspecies of  lion. They are Asiatic lions (Panthera leo persica) and historically they ranged in a large area from Greece through Iran, and all the way to India. In fact it was the Asiatic subspecies that were used by the Romans in gladiator fights at the Coliseum in Rome – not its larger cousin the African lion.

Big cats are threatened all over the world.  Loss of habitat and conflict with human inhabitants is a great problem worldwide, but nowhere is this as evident as it is in the Gir National Forest.

Here, a small population of about 411 lions including nearly 150 sub-adults (according to a 2010 census) has their last stronghold. Fortunately, the Gir Forest sanctuary is well kept by the Gujarat government and lion numbers are on the rise, but according to scientists and as described by Dr. Luke Hunter (President of Panthera) in a BBC Wildlife Article this month, the lions are outgrowing the forest and have nowhere to go.  Noted lion expert Dr. Ravi Chellam has developed plans for relocation, and the Kuno-Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary in the neighboring Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has been made ready to receive the lions. It would seem relocation is their only hope for survival. With such a small population in a small geographical place, a disease could wipe out the entire population in a very short time. One of the lion’s main preys, other than the chital deer (axis axis), is livestock, which is troubling to local farmers and cattle-herders. Human – wildlife conflicts take place in Gujarat every day and the wildlife rarely wins.

So why have the lions not been moved yet? It seems like a simple job, and in national parks around South Africa, relocation of animals has become an everyday business. But things are unfortunately not as simple as they seem and the Asiatic lions may never roam in any other sanctuary than Gir. The state government of Gujarat refuses to give permission for any relocation, according to Hunter’s article. It all depends on whom you believe. Some voices say that it is about Gujarati pride, while others believe it is a financial concern of the state wanting to protect the tourist income that the lions bring.

Sadly, politics always plays a role in conservation.  After having spent an amazing time in the vicinity of this incredible animal, I only hope that the right people will change their mind and give these lions a chance, so that we once again can see them roam freely as they should.

Uri Golman

Based in Como, Italy, Uri Golman is an award winning nature and wildlife photographer specialized in the arctic environment. An environmentalist and adventurer by heart, he has travelled the far north on several expeditions with the ultimate goal to communicate local conservation.

He has published two books on the Arctic since 2007 and one book on local conservation in India called Tiger Spirit, which was awarded the WWF Panda Book of the Year title in 2011.

Uri has also been chosen by Canon as a local Canon Ambassador in Denmark for his work on local conservation in Greenland for three consecutive years. His images from this part of the world have been published around the world in magazines, books and on calendars and postcards. His clients include National Geographic, WWF, ALPS Magazine and Greenland Today and Nature Picture Library in London represents his photographic work.
He is often a contributor of photographic stories to specialist magazines and writes monthly stories on the Manfrotto School of Xcellence.

He is currently working on a long term project called Wild North which aims to promote knowledge about conservation under the northern hemisphere.

The views expressed in this guest blog post are those of the International League of Conservation Photographers and not necessarily those of the National Geographic Society. Readers are welcome to exchange ideas or comments, but National Geographic reserves the right to edit or delete abusive or objectionable content.

An international team of photographers gathered on the island of Sulawesi for a Tripods in the Mud  photographic expedition in partnership with the Alliance for Tompotika Conservation / Aliansi Konservasi Tompotika (AlTo).  Joining the effort were ILCP Fellows Sandesh Kadur (India), and Kevin Schafer (USA), joined by Riza Marlon, a well-known Indonesian wildlife photographer.  The mission focused on documenting biodiversity on the Tompotika Peninsula, a remote area in central Sulawesi, which, like much of Indonesia, is under threat from widespread habitat loss, uncontrolled hunting, and natural resource extraction.

Mount Tompotika rises to 1600 meters at the eastern tip of the central peninsula of the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. Rich in tropical forests and surrounded by coral reefs, Sulawesi is also home to thousands of plant and animal species found nowhere else in the world.

 Using sound science and creative methods, AlTo works directly with local Tompotikans and their government to effectively conserve Tompotika’s natural heritage.

The images gathered on this expedition will be used by AlTo to create awareness of their work to protect habitat, and to highlight the need for creation of a new forest reserve on the slopes of Mt. Tompotika, the highest peak in the region.   Camera traps set in the forest captured endemic primates and rarely seen animals, while considerable effort was made to capture the breeding cycle of the endangered Maleo  (Macrocephalon maleo) – a bird which lays its eggs to be incubated in the hot sands of the coastal beaches.  Protection of the Maleo is a key AlTo program.

AlTo

The Alliance for Tompotika Conservation / Aliansi Konservasi Tompotika (AlTo) is an international partnership of individuals and communities formed to build a better world, starting in one special place: the lands and waters surrounding Mount Tompotika, Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Support Alliance for Tompotika Conservation / Aliansi Konservasi Tompotika

The views expressed in this guest blog post are those of the International League of Conservation Photographers and not necessarily those of the National Geographic Society. Readers are welcome to exchange ideas or comments, but National Geographic reserves the right to edit or delete abusive or objectionable content.

On a midsummer tundra day in Alaska, I hiked to a hillside overlooking a cascade. The waters thrummed and thundered, somersaulted and sprayed rainbow mist. Throngs of arm-length salmon leaped the opposite direction, fighting to reach spawning grounds closer to the mountains. Amid that tumult, nearly sixty grizzly bears muscled along parting the currents like boulders, plunged open-mouthed into eddies, swiped at flying fish, mock-wrestled in the shallows, and napped on the shores next to watchful bald eagles and gulls. The place was as alive as it is possible to be, and it made me feel the same way.

I dropped down to the base of a rock ledge for a fresh view. Shortly after noon, a bear suddenly appeared around the corner. It was coming my direction fast – too fast for me to do anything but press back against the stone and keep still. Closer, closer. I stopped breathing. I felt the fur of the grizzly’s shoulder brush my chest, and …

The animal hurried by, looking the other way. Its sole interest lay in steering clear of a huge male that had arrived at the river’s edge. Though left gasping, I wasn’t completely surprised to have been ignored. Here in wild sushi heaven, the bears routinely tolerated humans at close range. Sometimes, they fished side by side with wolves, their arch-enemies under different conditions.

Later that day, one mother grizzly laid down ten feet from me to nurse two little cubs. I know of salmon streams where females with young not only act comfortable around people but even make a point of staying near them.  This is likely because they’re aware that grown males, which can be dangerous to cubs, tend to keep away from the humans. Before going fishing among other adults, females have been known to drop off their cubs by viewing stations, turning the bear observers into bear babysitters.

Nineteenth century taxonomists labeled North America’s grizzly/brown bears Ursus arctos horribilis. Today, Canada and the United States hold roughly 50,000 of those and 350 million Homo sapiens. During an average year, the bears kill two, while smoking-related illnesses claim the lives of 400,000 annually in the U.S. alone, suicide takes 49,000-plus, auto collisions with deer 130, fatal maulings by dogs 32, and being crushed by a crowd 22. By comparison, demise-by-slavering-bruin is not a public safety issue. It is a psychological problem.

We can’t seem to help monsterizing grizz in tales told around campfires, in sporting magazines, and on TV and movie screens. Yet these bears also happen to be among the most playful, inquisitive, and keenly intelligent life forms keeping us company on the planet. Built to learn, they keep learning over a lifespan of 30 years or more. Dr. Charles Robbins, who studies bear physiology and behavior at Washington State University, considers grizzlies smarter than dogs and perhaps as bright as young children.

This isn’t to say being clever makes grizzlies less formidable. Still, between our mental abilities and those of the bears, we ought to be able to figure out ways to co-exist better than we have in the past. We’ve been trying for several decades now with a promising degree of success. And that, I think, is the most sensational grizzly story of all.    (continued below image)

By 1975, when grizzlies were listed as a threatened species south of Canada, they had lost 98 percent of their range and numbers there. Barely a thousand remained. The decline continued into the mid-1980’s. Across the roughly 20 million-acre Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) with 2.2 million-acre Yellowstone National Park at the core, the population shrank to perhaps 150 or fewer. Its all-important count of females with cubs fell below 20.

Grizzlies survived in four other Lower 48 ecosystems: Montana’s Northern Continental Divide, anchored by Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness complex; westernmost Montana’s Cabinet-Yaak area; northern Idaho’s Selkirk Mountains; and Washington’s North Cascades. Each enclave was struggling, but the collapse in the GYE received the most attention. After all, this was America’s best-known big bruin country. Its grizzlies, now the southernmost left on the continent, were entirely cut off from other populations and fading fast.

The GYE sprawls across 21 different mountain ranges in parts of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. Two national parks – Yellowstone and Grand Teton – six federal forests, and various state forests, wildlife refuges, Bureau of Land Management properties, and other publicly owned lands make up two thirds of the area. Traditionally, each agency focused solely on the natural resources within its particular borders. Restoring mega-bruins whose individual home ranges sprawl across hundreds of square miles called for a whole new era of cooperation.

Scientists and managers teamed up to do a better job of defining critical bear habitat and limiting development within it. Where many a bear had been terminated for causing problems with livestock pastured on public lands, the grazing leases were relocated. Officials worked harder to control other attractants as well, fencing off garbage dumps in rural communities, replacing standard trash bins with bear-proof versions, and installing hanging poles to keep supplies up out of paw’s reach at backcountry campsites.

Carnivores by anatomy, grizzlies are highly adaptable omnivores in practice. They sniff opportunity in anything from the celery sticks in a tourist’s cooler to the flavored lip balm in a hiker’s pack; and from the freshly skinned elk a hunter holds overnight in the woods to the fruit trees, horse pellets, dog chow, or seeds in a birdfeeder at a country home.

Where rewarded with food, the bears make a habit of returning. They quickly grasp the connection. The problem, as every bear manager knows, is that too many people don’t. They keep leaving out open invitations to big, hairy company. Somebody could end up killed; 99.9 percent of the time, it’s the grizzly. Progress in driving home the message that “a fed bear is a dead bear” was slow. Nevertheless, as the agencies and non-profit conservation groups expanded public bear awareness programs, that effort, too, began to make a difference.

The current count of grizzlies in the GYE is at least 500, possibly 600. It has been rising 4 to 7 percent annually, and the number of females with cubs has held above 50 for the past six years. As for the total population south of Canada, experts say it has reached 1,500 or more.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees imperiled species, chose to define the grizzlies of the five Lower 48 ecosystems as distinct population segments and deal with each separately. In 2007, the agency declared the GYE segment recovered. No sooner was it removed from the Endangered Species List than environmental groups sued, calling the de-listing premature. A federal court agreed and in 2009 reinstated the bears’ threatened status. But the wildlife service challenged the court’s decision, leaving that population in a sort of legal limbo.

Although some of the threats GYE grizzlies face have been reduced, none has gone away; not proposals to develop the backcountry; not livestock conflicts; not sportsmen shooting a grizzly in self-defense or because they thought it was a legally huntable black bear; not poaching out of sheer malice; not increasing off-road vehicle use; not expanding subdivision of open lands for new homes; and not unsecured food and garbage luring bears into trouble.

One special concern remains the GYE bears’ genetic diversity – the lowest among Lower 48 grizzlies. For an isolated population, the effects of inbreeding can become more problematic with every generation. A second major worry is that GYE grizzlies depend more heavily on whitebark pine seeds (raided from squirrel caches during autumn) for nourishment than any other group. Suffused with fats and oils, the seeds provide as much as half the protein in Yellowstone area grizzlies’ diet.

Heavier-than-usual whitebark seed production is reflected in bigger grizzly litter sizes, increased survival of young, and shorter times between pregnancies. And since this pine favors high altitudes, which are typically remote settings, bears feeding there seldom come into contact with people. Poor crops are linked to the opposite results – lower reproduction and a greater potential for conflict as the bears roam lower elevations with more human activity. At the moment, 95 percent of Yellowstone’s once-abundant whitebark stands are under assault from a European fungus and native mountain pine beetles.

Warmer average winter temperatures have allowed the beetles to multiply at an abnormally fast pace and overwinter farther upslope. Not only did the federal court cite the impact of global warming as a substantial threat to Yellowstone’s grizzlies, whitebark pine has itself become a candidate for listing as an imperiled species.  (continued below image)

Organizations such as the Greater Yellowstone Coalition , a leading force for conservation in the region, refer to the grizzly as an indicator species. It means that where a landscape is big and bountiful enough to harbor great bears, the full array of other creatures belonging to that part of the world is likely to be present and in good condition. A prime example can be found on the Absaroka-Beartooth Front, a mix of snowy crags, forested slopes, and sagebrush foothills that sweeps down from the high eastern boundary of Yellowstone Park toward the Great Plains. The best bear habitat in the GYE lies mostly outside the national parks, and the Front hosts some of the highest grizzly densities of all amid tremendous elk herds, mule deer, bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, wolverines, black bears, bobcats, moose, mountain lions, mountain goats, wolves, nesting golden eagles, and prairie falcons outracing the wind.

Because they play an oversized role in shaping the ecosystems they inhabit, grizzlies are also referred to as a keystone species. They affect prey populations directly through hunting, scavenge large carcasses in between, and redistribute tons of nutrients. Gobbling tens of thousands of berries daily in late summer and fall, they disperse the seeds from valley bottoms to subalpine slopes. They are also the chief earthmovers in many habitats, putting those long claws to work tilling the soil in search of roots and bulbs, renewing plant communities in the process.

A third term often applied to grizzlies is umbrella species, since guarding their critical habitat adds a layer of security for all their wild neighbors. Backpackers, mountaineers, fishermen, naturalists, tourists – all the people drawn to truly untamed settings and rich wild communities – find their values defended as well.

At the same time, there’s no shortage of political and economic pressures to de-list grizzlies so restrictions on industrial activities can be lifted or at least eased. The Shoshone National Forest, which oversees much of the Front, has been fielding proposals to open pristine public lands to mineral development for years. Recently, a push to extract oil and gas has been gaining momentum.

Is it possible to somehow produce more fossil fuel and more grizzlies at the same time? Maybe in a more perfect world. You won’t find win-win models father north along the Rocky Mountain Front in Alberta, where an invasion of new roads, drill rigs, pumps, and pipelines has cost wildlife dearly. Not long ago, the grizzlies of that vast province numbered in the many thousands. Today, fewer are found there than in the GYE. So much for importing grizzlies from Canada if we lose those in the contiguous states.

I’ve met folks in the Rockies who feel it’s high time we did lose some grizzlies. In years without any serious bear problems, news outlets don’t run stories on the order of “Hundreds of Thousands Stroll through Wild Grizzly Bear Households Unscratched!” I wish they would, because sooner or later there comes an interval with tragic conflicts and all kinds of media coverage. Lethal attacks on a hiker and, separately, a camper in GYE national forests took place during the summer of 2010. Summer of 2011 brought two cases of a hiker in Yellowstone Park killed by grizz. That fall, a hunter near the Idaho/Montana border shot a grizzly he thought was a black bear, and when the wounded animal attacked, the man’s hunting partner fatally shot him while aiming for the bear.

Several mauling injuries involving elk hunters, hikers, and campers also occurred in the GYE and Montana over the same period. People interpreting all this as the start of a deadly trend began lobbying to end grizzly protection, warning that recovery efforts have gone too far. A number of guides, outfitters and sportsmen eager for trophy grizzly hunting to get underway again have been making the same argument.

How many grizzly bears are enough? If they keep expanding their range and numbers, society will have to weigh that question carefully. At the moment, however, all 1,500 to 1,600 in the lower 48 states could be lined up in a Wal-Mart parking lot with plenty of room left over. The 500 to 600 from the GYE would fit inside the store; not peacefully, mind you, but I’m trying to make the point that grizzlies are not exactly overrunning the mountain West. Three of the five grizzly bear ecosystems south of Canada contain fewer than 40 animals each.

If you wish to live a long, safe life here, these are my recommendations: Exercise more, cut down on fatty foods, and lobby for stricter drunk driving laws. I don’t want to make light of anyone’s fears, only to stay realistic about the levels of harm we face.

As for practical advice to prevent an actual mauling, first, don’t feed these animals – ever, not on purpose or by inadvertently leaving out attractants. Second, carry bear spray on outings; none of the victims I mentioned did. Contrary to what a lot of tough-guy outdoorsmen believe, those little cannisters of red pepper-infused oil are far more effective than guns in deterring aggression. Studies have shown the spray’s success rate to be nearly 100 percent. Give yourself a snootful, as I once did by mistake, and you’ll understand why.  (continued below image)

Bears force us to think hard about what we really mean when we say we want to preserve nature. A sample here and there? Multitudes of certain majestic creatures but only token numbers of others – just enough to let us say we didn’t drive them completely extinct? The decision to try to include healthy populations of North America’s largest, most powerful land-based predator in our future signaled an historical turnaround in attitude for most of society. What will it take to see this remarkable effort through?

Re-connecting Yellowstone’s bears to the other four Lower 48 grizzly bear ecosystems via bridges, or corridors, of wildlands would boost the chances of survival for all those groups over the long run. They need the freedom to roam – to migrate, disperse, probe new landscapes, and meet up with others of their kind – on a regional scale. Without it, maintaining healthy gene pools, adjusting to a changing climate, and coping with periodic stresses such as drought, wildfires, disease epidemics, infestations, and invasions by non-native species through the centuries is all but impossible. As ever, the umbrella species concept comes into play, for modern conservation biology tells us that the best hope of sustaining other creatures in the same ecosystems involves both taking care of the strongholds and linking them together into a vibrant network.

Grizzlies energize some of the grandest landscapes in North America. And all the while, these bears expand our awareness of nature, redefine our relationship with it, encourage us to tie together fragmented ecosystems, and thereby restore wholeness to the living world. How much of this is enough? I don’t know, but “Less” doesn’t sound like the right answer.

Douglas H. Chadwick

A wildlife biologist who studied mountain goats and grizzlies in the Rockies, elephants in Africa and whales in the world’s oceans, Doug Chadwick began writing about natural history and conservation for national magazines. On assignments from Siberia to the Congo River’s headwaters, he has produced several hundred popular articles and eleven books. He is also the vice chair of the board of Vital Ground, a nonprofit land trust that has helped safeguard more than 600,000 acres of wildlife habitat in Alaska, Canada, and the western US. He lives with his wife Karen Reeves in Whitefish, Montana.

The Bangkok Post reports that 450 documents proving legal licensing of the center’s animals were requested to be produced in a three-hour period. When Sangnanork was unable to gather all the paperwork in that timeframe, she was taken into custody.
The Elephant Nature Park, an elephant rescue sanctuary in the Chiang Mai Province of northern Thailand was stormed on February 8, 2012, by about 100 agents.

Officials raided the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand after they received complaints that Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand had custody of undocumented wildlife and that animals were being held in inhumane conditions.  This is not the first time Edwin Wiek and his team have been targeted by such accusations. The Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand states on their website that they think that they are being raided in retaliation for drawing attention to recent elephant poaching.  In an exposé for The Nation on January 24th, Wiek specifically mentioned corruption by politicians, government officials and businessmen tied to elephant camps and the cover-up of baby elephant smuggling to “safe houses” near Thailand’s borders and, on February 12, was quoted in The Guardian about a tiger trafficking bust allegedly in connection with several private zoos in Thailand. (See The Guardian and The Nation)

Officials have thus far confiscated more than 100 animals from Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand, including Asian elephants, gibbons, leopard cats, civets, and macaques that were being rehabilitated and otherwise sheltered there.

While reporting on an unrelated project, CAT in WATER, last December, Joanna Nasar and I visited Wiek at Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand. We saw firsthand how much this center is helping to save abused wildlife, and spoke with Wiek about the legal challenges he’s faced while trying to give these animals a second chance.

Sign the petition to help Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand before its too late for the animals there.

Disturbing Video of civet being confiscated.

Morgan (Mo) Heim is a Colorado-based multimedia journalist specializing in sharing the stories of science and environmental issues. An accredited zoologist turned science communicator; she splits her time working with non-profits, research institutes and magazines to help engage the public in wanting to understand our planet. Morgan subscribes to the belief that if you show people how amazing and interwoven the world is, they’ll care more about what happens to it. In addition to being an associate fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers, her work appears in such outlets as Smithsonian, High Country News, the Nature Conservancy, National Wildlife, and the WILD Foundation.

Morgan has recently returned from Thailand where she was working on her CAT in WATER project.

The views expressed in this guest blog post are those of the International League of Conservation Photographers and not necessarily those of the National Geographic Society. Readers are welcome to exchange ideas or comments, but National Geographic reserves the right to edit or delete abusive or objectionable content.

But the disquieting beauty of orchids is an unplanned marvel of evolution, and the story of orchids is as captivating as any novel.

Sabah, Borneo

As acclaimed writers Michael Pollan and National Geographic photographer Christian Ziegler spin tales of orchid conquest in Deceptive Beauties: The World of Wild Orchids, we learn how these flowers can survive and thrive in the harshest of environments, from tropical cloud forests to the Arctic, from semi-deserts to rocky mountainsides; how their shapes, colors, and scents are, as Darwin put it, “beautiful contrivances” meant to dupe pollinating male insects in the strangest ways. What other flowers, after all, can mimic the pheromones and even appearance of female insects, so much so that some male bees prefer sex with the orchids over sex with their own kind?

And insects aren’t the only ones to fall for the orchids’ charms. Since the “orchidelirium” of the Victorian era, humans have braved the wilds to search them out and devoted copious amounts of time and money propagating and hybridizing, nurturing and simply gazing at them.

Eleanthus sp.being pollinated by a male magnificent hummingbird. The orchidâ’s violet-colored pollen package can be seen at the tip of the hummingbirds beak. Most bird-pollinated orchids haveevolved dark pollinia because the usual yellow ones would be easily seen and probably groomed off by the birds. Finca Dracula, Panama

Excerpt from the book, Deceptive Beauties – The World of Wild Orchids

As a young naturalist growing up in southwest Germany, I was enthralled by orchids. To me, they were wondrous, exotic, and rare. When I roamed the early summer hills in search of wildlife and plants, spotting an orchid was always a particular thrill. I had learned where to look for them from a neighbor who was very botanically inclined. He knew the exact places along roadways where little patches of orchids flourished, despite the fact that they had no business being there. He guessed that they had arrived at their particular spot when the road was being built and a bit of limestone soil containing orchid seeds had found its way into the road margins. Since many of these terrestrial orchids need limestone, I would also look for them in sward—sparse, poor meadowland that drains well. Orchids, I soon realized, had flowers that didn’t look like other flowers, and various species of these lovely, delicate works of nature could thrive in almost any environment, from rocky barren sward to shady wetlands.

I clearly remember a college field trip to a rolling grassland not far from my university. We had come at exactly the right week in late May and found a good dozen species of pink orchids of the genus Orchis in the south-facing sward. Then we walked up the meadow toward the vast Palatinate Forest, which runs all the way to the border with France, and there in the half-shade of the beeches along the forest edge were the delicate orchids called little white forest birds. Going deeper into the Palatinate, we found swamp orchids by a creek and in dark patches of woodland, brown orchids with none of the chlorophyll that gives most plants their greenness. This variety, called the bird’s-nest orchid, lives off the nutrients it receives from a symbiotic fungus.

No other plant family held quite the same fascination for me as orchids did, maybe because of their relative rareness in northern Europe and certainly because of their unusual appearance—their delicate shapes and configuration, the deep spurs that hide their nectar. They weren’t structured like any other flowers, and they seemed somehow special in a mysterious way.

King spider orchid (Caladenia pectinata) being visited by its pollinator, a male parasitic wasp which is attracted to the flower by a faux female wasp pheromone.

As the radius of my wanderings expanded, I had the opportunity to see some amazing orchid habitats across Europe. On a backpacking trip into the Swiss Alps I saw orchids in abundance for the first time. I was astonished at the profusion of their blooms across the high mountain meadows, their pink spikes glowing amid dozens of other summer flowers and all of it backdropped by snow-capped peaks. It was breathtaking. There were at least a dozen species in those meadows, including the pyramid orchid that Charles Darwin had studied and written about. An orchid enthusiast himself, Darwin gathered wild orchids near his home in Kent and propagated them. In fact, orchids inspired some of his most critical thinking on natural selection. In his book The Various Contrivances by Which Orchids Are Fertilised by Insects, he explains the co-evolution of insects and orchids and calls them “amongst the most singular and most modified forms in the vegetable kingdom.”

Masdevallia reginas rotting aroma is perfume to its pollinator, a tiny carrion fly. Cerro Punta, Panama.

I shared Darwin’s enthusiasm for these “singular” creatures, and on hikes I took into the Pyrenees, southern Italy, and Greece, I discovered a whole new realm of orchid species that I had not seen before. Some of them were oddly shaped, mimicking bees and other insects, while others grew to amazing sizes and had a sweet, honeyed scent.

In graduate school, on botanical research expeditions in the tropics of Asia, Africa, and Panama, I began to realize how narrow the European range of orchids was. Tropical orchids seemed nothing like the ground-based European varieties I had known. Almost all orchid species in the warm rain forests lived as epiphytes, growing from other plants, often high up in the canopy. The shapes, colors, and, in many cases, the scents, were out of this world. Their diversity seemed endless; hardly ever would I find two individuals of the same species.

Bird orchid (Pterostylis sp.) in its habitat, an old groth Shea Oak forest.

My experience with orchids mirrors the global patterns of orchid distribution. While temperate areas tend to have fewer species and predominantly terrestrial ones, tropical orchids are much more diverse and most are epiphytic. Central Europe has about 250 species of orchids, yet Panama, barely one-tenth the size, has more than 1,300 known species, with many newly discovered ones being reported every year.

That’s typical of the difference between tropical and temperate places worldwide, and the explanation for this lies deep in the Earth’s past, in its geology and weather patterns.

About Christian Ziegler

Christian Ziegler is a Fellow of The International League of Conservation Photographers, a biologist-turned-photographer specializing in tropical natural history. He is a frequent contributor to National Geographic Magazine, GEO, and Smithsonian, among others. He is an associate for communication with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and a founding fellow of the International League of Conservation photographers.

Mangrove area at the northern tip of Isla Cozumel. Over under water shot of mangrove trees and roots.

In 2009, ILCP conducted a RAVE (Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition) in Yucatan. ILCP photographers, Roy Toft and I, along with Our World-Underwater Rolex Scholarship winner Myfanwy Rowlands were assigned to look at environmental issues impacting the island of Cozumel. While Myfanwy and I worked together on marine life areas, Roy Toft covered the terrestrial wildlife that flourishes on the island. What we encountered was both inspiring and disturbing.

A few key residents of Cozumel are particularly and laudably involved in conserving its marine resources. Cozumel’s National Park researchers carefully monitor the health of the reefs and community members are assigned to protect the turtle habitats. As one of their duties, these dedicated individuals are charged with educating the younger generation about the importance of saving their delicate environment. Since the RAVE, I have been back to the island twice. Despite Cozumel conservationists’ best efforts, my visits have only intensified my concerns for protecting the last pure areas of the island.

Southern stingray (Dasyatis americana) . Micro atolls in the far north east part of Isla Cozumel. These are algae based reefs and not formed from limestone skeleton base of coral structures.

The rumors and discussions between the locals are increasing and heated. Residents want to know: will a proposed development named Punta Arrecifes be approved, and will it destroy the beautiful northeast corner of the island where birds nest and delicate reefs known as micro-atolls exist? These micro-atolls represent a micro ecosystem that occurs only rarely worldwide, and nowhere else in the Western Caribbean. Such limited and specialized systems usually occur within very narrow survival parameters. Even minute changes can bring about irreversible damage.

Inland from these atolls exist wetlands and lagoons that host a large population of birds – all there to nest and coexist with other land animals. The lagoons and mangroves are full of juvenile fish species waiting to mature and populate the open reef areas surrounding the island. This area is all that is left of Cozumel to be considered a true wilderness. Exactly what is to be approved for the Punta Arrecifes development is shrouded in mystery. As of September 2011, the plan incorporated a marina, golf course, private air strip and 600 hotel rooms. According to reports, some 12 kilometers of virgin beaches on the northeast corner of the island, all owned by the Barbachano family, is the target. Also involved in the development, according to these reports, is the son of real estate mogul, Donald Trump. But trying to get confirmation is difficult – the Trump name is being kept out of the discussions. The Trump Organization has refused to respond to any questions, let alone whether they are in partnership with the Barbachano family to pursue the large-scale development. One important question rises to the surface – “Where are the environmental studies and what has been concluded as to the impact on these significant habitats?” To date, no environmental studies have been presented to the residents of Cozumel.

(Pecari tajacu nanus), Endemic, Cozumel, Mexico

The project claims to add employment opportunities. While this may be true, it’s difficult to understand the benefit to the economy when so many of the existing resorts and hotels are struggling to fill rooms. What loss to the environment and uniqueness of this island would this development initiate? More and more world travelers are seeking these pristine environments and are willing to pay a premium to visit them as such. Any development on this untouched portion of Cozumel could potentially take away this opportunity for future generations.

In addition to the large-scale project, a wind farm has been proposed. This is a clear vehicle for “greenwashing” the real impact of the development. Although establishing a carbon offset in the form of a wind farm sounds admirable, just a few of these big mills in the nesting and migratory bird areas could cause these species to seek other places in their delicate natural cycles.

In October, 2011, I had the opportunity to hear President Calderon address attendees of a travel summit in Chiapas, Mexico. In his speech, President Calderon made a commitment to sustainability and conservation along with economic growth. My immediate reaction was to praise his words in the belief that he will make his last year in office one that will label him as a protector of environmentally sensitive lands in Mexico. That is an honorable legacy to leave for his country. But as politics in our own country has shown, words and promises have failed us.

(Chlorostilbon forticatus), Endemic, Cozumel, Mexico

I am acutely aware of the right any country and its people have to development and economic growth. We all want our people healthy, happy and prosperous. However, it is also our responsibility to be good stewards of our lands. Leaving pristine natural habitats for our children is an honorable charge, and pays social, economic, health and political dividends in the end.

The views expressed in this guest blog post are those of the International League of Conservation Photographers and not necessarily those of the National Geographic Society. Readers are welcome to exchange ideas or comments, but National Geographic reserves the right to edit or delete abusive or objectionable content.

Myfanwy Rowlands exploring the micro atolls in the far north east part of Isla Cosumel. These are algae based reefs and not formed from limestone skeleton base of coral structures.

About Michele

Michele is passionate about conservation and is proud to be a Founding Fellow of International League of Conservation Photographers. Her underwater and cultural photography has gained international recognition. Michele understands the need to tell a visual story, whether it covers exotic holiday locations or the wonders of the natural world.

Join Michele in her fight to save Cozumel by signing a petition to hold President Calderon to his environmental promises on iLCP.com.

Pummeled by relentless wind and rain, the Chukchi Sea was churning with huge waves. After exploring Wrangel Island in the Russian High Arctic, I was in my cabin on the Heritage Expeditions ship, Professor Khromov, as we headed south toward the Siberian mainland. Suddenly, the voice of an excited Russian crew member blared on the ship’s intercom, “Polar bear! Swimming! Near ship! Port side!” I grabbed my camera and ran out on to the deck. Scanning the sea, I searched for a furry white head among the waves; I found nothing.

During a storm in Russia’s Chukchi Sea, an adult female polar bear struggled to keep her head above the waves. Swimming in rough seas far from land, and even farther from the nearest sea ice, she faced an uncertain fate.

As the ship continued to plough through the turbulent ocean, I pondered the situation. We were hundreds of kilometers south of the nearest arctic sea ice, which had melted and receded far north towards the central polar basin. It was August 12, about one month before the sea ice would reach its annual minimum extent after the summer melt, but a vast expanse of open ocean already separated Wrangel Island from the pack ice. Historically, sea ice remained near Wrangel for most of the year. But climate warming has recently caused the ice to shrink dramatically, and now it’s absent in prime polar bear habitat throughout the Chukchi Sea for several months from mid-summer through late fall. Polar bears need sea ice for all essential aspects of their lives; so why was this bear swimming here?

Polar bears travel mostly on sea ice as they traverse their frozen habitat hunting for seals – their primary prey. They are excellent swimmers with impressive endurance and they readily paddle in frigid waters. Nonetheless, they cannot swim indefinitely and will encounter difficulties in stormy seas. Swimming from floe-to-floe in areas of broken ice is easy for them, but attempting to swim very far in rough waters can be disastrous. In 2004, researchers saw four drowned polar bears floating in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea following a storm. Those bears died while attempting to find sea ice, which had receded hundreds of kilometers to the north. The scientists surmised that two-dozen other bears, seen swimming before the storm, also probably perished. In 2008, researchers documented an astonishing 9-day non-stop swim of 687 kilometers by a radio-collared bear who departed from Alaska’s coast and headed north across open ocean to reach the shrinking sea ice. She survived the journey but lost 22% of her body weight and her yearling cub.

While I considered these issues, a small animate form took shape in the violent swells beyond the bow. I could hardly believe what I saw: another polar bear swimming in the open ocean. Leaning precariously over the railing with my camera, I pressed the shutter as the animal crested a wave rolling toward the ship. A moment later, the bear was alongside the vessel; then she quickly receded behind us as we continued southward. I was preoccupied with questions: Where did she come from? Where was she headed? Would she survive a very long swim, or would she succumb to fatigue and drown before reaching her destination?

Over many tens of thousands of years, polar bears evolved to be uniquely well-adapted for a very narrow ecological niche. Their physical features provide superb protection from the cold: they have extremely dense fur and almost no exposed skin, their thick layer of fat provides excellent insulation, and their low surface-area-to-volume ratio helps retain heat. In addition, they are well-designed to walk on ice and snow, and swim in frigid waters. Huge feet function like snowshoes and make good paddles for swimming; bumpy foot pads provide traction on slippery surfaces; short, curved, sharp claws grab the ice effectively; and a blubber-wrapped body has excellent buoyancy.

Evolution has honed polar bear physique, dentition, and metabolism for maximum exploitation of a completely carnivorous, high-fat, marine-mammal diet. A narrow skull, long muscular neck and flesh-grabbing teeth all facilitate plunging head-first deep into a seal’s breathing hole or birth lair to grab prey. Clutching a captured seal in its powerful jaws, a polar bear then uses its incredible strength to drag prey upward and out onto a sea-ice platform where the quarry can be devoured. Polar bears are able to satisfy their enormous energy needs and thrive in the Arctic because they are able to digest and assimilate 84% of the protein and 97% of the fat from their blubbery prey.

Two males confront each other at a seal kill. Polar bears typically avoid physical conflicts. However, as sea ice shrinks and opportunities for hunting decrease, there will be greater potential for disputes between bears over access to limited food resources.

Ice-dependent ringed seals are the main food of polar bears in all regions. To a lesser extent, some also eat other rotund arctic marine mammals, including bearded seals and walruses. Polar bears use various hunting techniques to catch their quick-swimming food, but all methods depend on the existence of sea ice. With extraordinarily rare exceptions, polar bears cannot seize their agile prey in the water.

As they travel huge distances in their icy habitat searching for food, polar bears use their remarkably keen sense of smell to detect prey. “Their eyesight is about the same as a human’s, but they rely on their prodigious sense of smell for information,” explains Ian Stirling, a retired Canadian Wildlife Service scientist, now affiliated with the University of Alberta, who has studied polar bears for over 40 years. Particularly impressive, says Stirling, is the polar bear’s ability to find an opening in the ice that is being used by a seal as a breathing hole, simply by sniffing the ice. “Seals have strong fishy breath which likely leaves a trace on the snow or ice, and it appears that a bear can tell by smell that a seal breathed there recently.” The bear may then commence ‘still-hunting’ – waiting motionless for an opportunity to grab an unwary seal as it surfaces for air. In addition, from over a kilometer away, a polar bear can use its amazing sense of smell to detect a seal pup inside an icy birth lair beneath a thick layer of snow. The bear will then break into the lair by pounding on the snow with its powerful limbs, and attempt to catch the pup before it slides into the water.

For a polar bear to stalk a basking seal successfully on the sea-ice surface, the prey must be hauled out on a large expanse of intact ice. The bear will begin its surreptitious approach from far away, using raised features on the ice for camouflage. Then, once the predator has gotten reasonably close to its target, it will sprint forward and try to grab the seal before it escapes into the ocean. Still-hunting also requires a stretch of intact sea ice, preferably broken only in a location being used by a seal as a breathing hole or haul-out spot; the greater the number of alternative openings in the ice, the less likely the seal will surface where the polar bear is waiting to pounce.

Another dramatic hunting method, labeled “the aquatic stalk” by Stirling, is the best choice when there are widespread fractures and multiple large channels in the ice, and a seal is hauled out on a small distant floe. After spotting the seal, the polar bear will carefully slip into the water without making a splash and swim concealed among the floes toward its quarry. If the bear manages to reach the floe where the seal is resting without being detected, it will then explode from the water, catapult toward its prey and attempt to grab the seal before it dives into the sea.

Polar bear cubs are born inside a snow den, and are tiny and helpless at birth. They remain sealed in the den with their mother for about three months, nursing and growing until they are strong enough to venture outside and accompany their mother when she resumes traveling and hunting on the sea ice.

Beyond requiring a sea-ice platform for travelling, hunting and feeding, polar bears need the ice for breeding. Males rely on their superb sense of smell to locate potential mates on the sea ice by determining whether polar bear footprints are those of a female and if so, whether she is in estrus. Stirling has observed males select a single set of icy tracks from among dozens of overlapping possibilities, and follow those tracks persistently in pursuit of a mate. He marvels, “I have tracked individual adult males as they plodded relentlessly in a more-or-less straight line across the frozen pack ice for 100 kilometers or more, non-stop, in search of a possibly receptive female.”

Due to their compulsory connections with sea ice for every crucial facet of life, polar bears are exceedingly vulnerable to the effects of climate warming. Human emissions of greenhouse gases are causing arctic temperatures to rise, and vast areas of sea ice that polar bears depend on are melting rapidly. The arctic sea ice extent in September 2011 was more than 2.43 million square kilometers below the average documented from 1979 through 2000. The ice has also decreased dramatically in thickness, making it more vulnerable to further melting. In September 2011, the total arctic sea ice volume estimated by scientists was the lowest ever – 66% lower than the average volume from 1979 through 2010. Mark Serreze, Director of the U.S. National Snow & Ice Data Center, describes the situation bluntly: “The Arctic summer sea ice is in a death spiral.” Unquestionably, this situation poses a dire threat to polar bears.

Over 30 years ago, Ian Stirling initiated long-term research on Canada’s Western Hudson Bay (WHB) population of polar bears to gain a detailed understanding of their biology and ecology. Since then, the decades-long work of Stirling and others has proven climate change is imperiling the bears.

From late fall through early summer, the WHB polar bears are on frozen Hudson Bay, hunting seals. By early July, the ice breaks up and the bears must go ashore. For several months, they are marooned on land and food-deprived because they cannot hunt seals until the bay freezes again in winter. Pregnant polar bears in this population must endure even longer periods of food-deprivation. After mating in spring, they attempt to build up huge fat reserves by gorging on seals until the ice breaks up in July; then they must move onto land. Once ashore, they’re obliged to subsist only on their stored fat while travelling to their denning area, giving birth, nursing tiny cubs through the winter, and waiting until their offspring are strong enough to travel to the sea ice the following spring. By the time mother bears are able to resume hunting on the ice in mid-March, they have not eaten anything for at least eight months. That is an astonishing biological feat, and one which pushes the limits of what can be endured.

Nick Lunn and Greg Thiemann evaluate the health of a tranquilized mother polar bear and her young triplet cubs near the shore of Western Hudson Bay. This research, started by Ian Stirling decades ago, has established that polar bears are declining in physical condition and numbers due to climate warming and loss of sea-ice habitat.

Research by Stirling and colleagues has established that during the past few decades, due to climate warming, the sea ice on Hudson Bay has been breaking up progressively earlier in the summer. Break-up now occurs at least four weeks earlier than it did a few decades ago. Consequently, the WHB bears have much less time on the ice to hunt seals and accumulate the fat necessary to survive the ice- free period. Furthermore, explains Stirling, in addition to coming ashore with meager quantities of stored fat, “the bears are now being forced to fast for even longer periods because freeze-up is coming progressively later in the fall as well.” The WHB polar bear population is declining from nutritional stress. Weights of adults are decreasing, litters are smaller, fewer young bears are surviving, and the overall population size is shrinking. The earlier break- up is particularly problematic for pregnant bears, because maximizing intake of seal blubber in the spring is crucial for successful reproduction. If current climate trends persist and the ice-free period continues to lengthen, Stirling says, “In a few more decades, not many adult females will be capable of reproducing in western Hudson Bay and any cubs that might be born will have difficulty surviving.”

Polar bears in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas of Alaska and Russia are also struggling to cope as the ice disappears. Steven C. Amstrup, who has studied polar bears in Alaska for 30 years, and is now Chief Scientist for Polar Bears International, says that historically the sea ice remained over the biologically-productive waters of the shallow continental shelf all year round, and the bears could hunt seals even in summer. But now the ice recedes hundreds of kilometers away each summer, forcing the bears either to swim ashore and fast until the ice returns in winter, or remain with the ice as it shrinks toward the central polar basin where food is scarce. Polar bear size and survival rates are already declining in the Beaufor t Sea region, Amstrup explains, due to reduced feeding opportunities as the result of ice retreat.

Pregnant bears are facing especially serious challenges in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas as the summer sea ice recedes far from maternity denning areas on land. When the ice withdraws northward in summer, a pregnant bear must decide when to go ashore. If she chooses to remain on the retreating ice temporarily, she can continue hunting seals longer. That will help her maximize the fat reserves she’ll need to survive a lengthy period of food-deprivation while she’s denning. However, remaining longer on the receding ice could mean a pregnant bear will then have to swim much farther to reach her terrestrial denning area, which could be so energy-intensive and difficult that she might lose her pregnancy or even drown in rough seas.

Alternatively, a pregnant bear might choose to head toward land promptly upon breakup of near-shore ice rather than ride the pack farther out to sea. In that situation, she would not expend as much energy swimming, but she would have less hunting time on the ice and therefore a smaller reserve of fat for sustenance during denning. A third option is for a pregnant bear to remain hunting on the shrinking ice as long as possible, and then den on the ice itself rather than on land. But as temperatures rise and sea ice weakens, this option has become increasingly risky. If a sea-ice den disintegrates and must be abandoned, or collapses into the ocean while the mother bear and her offspring are inside, the result will be almost certain death for the cubs. Eventually, this no-win situation will result in fewer successful pregnancies, fewer surviving cubs, and decreasing populations of polar bears in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. Scientists believe sea- ice retreat will soon have the same effects on bears in other populations as well, for similar reasons.

To make matters worse, deteriorating sea-ice conditions may also affect polar bears’ reproductive rates by directly impairing their ability to locate one another for breeding. Canadian bear biologist Andrew Derocher of the University of Alberta, a former Chair of the Polar Bear Specialist Group in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), has studied this issue. His research indicates that when increasingly warm spring temperatures cause sea ice to be fractured extensively, with many small mobile floes constantly moving in expanses of churning water, it may be difficult or even impossible for males to find females for breeding by following the scent of their tracks. “The males are trying to follow a broken path – whirling ice floes are like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle – if it gets bad enough, there are so many pieces missing that the puzzle doesn’t make any sense,” he explains. This issue will likely contribute to precipitous population declines as arctic temperatures continue to climb.

Marooned on land due to lack of sea ice, this bear forages for food at a garbage dump. Although trash can temporarily fill an empty belly, it cannot provide nourishing long-term sustenance. As rising temperatures trap fasting bears on land for longer periods, they are increasingly searching for food in close proximity to people, and that poses risks to both humans and bears.

Today, there are approximately 20,000 polar bears living in 19 relatively discrete populations. The IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group – the world’s foremost scientific authority on polar bears – has determined that eight of those 19 populations are already declining due to rising temperatures. Moreover, the scientists emphasize that all polar bears throughout the Arctic will ultimately be endangered by loss of their sea-ice habitat if temperature rise continues unabated.

Some have suggested that polar bears will adapt to an ice- free Arctic by consuming land-based foods such as bird eggs, rodents, berries and vegetation, as well as fish – essentially shifting to the diet of omnivorous brown bears. But Derocher, who has studied both polar bears and brown bears for nearly 30 years, says that theory is completely misguided. “Anyone who suggests that polar bears can survive by consuming terrestrial foods simply does not understand polar bear physiology,” he says. Unlike brown bears, polar bears are functionally obligate carnivores and they are physiologically dependent on consuming the blubbery bodies of marine mammals. Other foods simply cannot meet their tremendous energy needs over the long run. Furthermore, Derocher explains, it took tens of thousands of years for polar bears to evolve into the uniquely well-adapted, completely ice- dependent arctic predators they are today; it is just not possible for them to evolve into land-based omnivores within a few decades.

And if, in addition to being endangered by global warming and vanishing sea ice, polar bears are also subjected to increasing human disturbance, killed by hunters and poachers, and exposed to dangerous contamination in their shrinking habitat, they will decline into oblivion even faster. Of particular concern is the active push for oil exploration, production and shipping in many crucial regions of polar bear habitat as the Arctic Ocean becomes increasingly ice-free. “It is obvious that an oil spill would be devastating to polar bears,” says Stirling. “The contamination will almost certainly kill them.” Polar bears have no natural aversion to oil and, in fact, may be dangerously attracted to it. Whether by swimming in oil-covered seas or travelling on oil-soaked ice, they would become contaminated in the event of a spill, and the consequences would be deadly. Once polar bear fur is fouled with oil, Stirling explains, it loses its insulating properties. Shivering bears will then attempt to groom their fur by licking themselves clean, and will ingest the toxic oil. Kidney failure and death will almost invariably follow. Because resources to contain an arctic oil spill are not currently available, and no proven technology exists to clean up oil in icy arctic seas, the danger to polar bears from oil drilling and transport in their habitat is indisputable and significant.

Standing motionless at the edge of the sea ice, this polar bear stares intently into the tranquil water. He is “still-hunting” – waiting for an opportunity to seize an unsuspecting seal as it surfaces to breathe.

If humans continue to burn fossil fuels and pump ever- increasing amounts of heat-trapping gases into the air, arctic temperatures will inevitably continue to rise, and sea ice will surely continue to shrivel. Will any polar bears survive anywhere in the wild by the end of this century if we simply carry on with business-as-usual? It appears extremely unlikely. “As the sea ice goes, so goes the polar bear,” says Amstrup. Research by Amstrup and colleagues has shown that if current trends persist, at least two-thirds of the world’s polar bears will vanish within the next 40 years, and the rest are likely to disappear by 2100.

However, in a recent study published in the December 2010 issue of the journal Nature, Amstrup and his collaborators concluded there is still hope for polar bears. Their research used mathematical modeling to test the effects of a scenario in which global greenhouse-gas emissions are quickly and significantly reduced, and atmospheric concentrations of heat-trapping pollutants are stabilized within the next decade. Based on that hypothetical scenario, the scientists determined that the decline of arctic sea ice is not unstoppable, and some sea-ice habitat sufficient to support some polar bears can be preserved. “There’s a widely held perception that nothing can be done to help polar bears and the arctic ecosystem,” says Amstrup. “Our new findings show this isn’t true. Saving polar bears is all about temperature and sea ice. By minimizing greenhouse- gas emissions and therefore temperature rise, we will retain more sea ice. The more sea-ice habitat we retain, the more polar bears will survive.”

But is it feasible to reduce global greenhouse-gas emissions rapidly enough and drastically enough to avert an arctic melt-down and the demise of polar bears? Joseph Romm, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, says the necessary technological capabilities do indeed exist, but he stresses that lack of political will is the overriding problem. Romm, a physicist and climate expert, was the Assistant Secretary of Energy for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in U.S. President Bill Clinton’s administration and is the editor of the respected blog Climate Progress. He explains that to stabilize atmospheric greenhouse-gas concentrations at 2020 levels within a decade, which is the hopeful scenario in the study by Amstrup’s group, the industrialized world would have to cut greenhouse-gas emissions about 60% to 70% almost immediately, and then continue cutting even further. Achieving that goal would be tremendously challenging yet technologically feasible, says Romm. But the stark reality, he notes, is that currently the world appears unwilling to do what is necessary.

After killing a yearling cub for food in the Norwegian Arctic, an adult male drags the young bear’s body across the ice before stopping to eat it. As temperatures continue to rise and arctic sea ice continues to disappear, it will be increasingly difficult for polar bears to hunt seals. Scientists believe such tragic instances of polar bear cannibalism may become more common as a consequence.

Due to human emissions, carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere has already increased to a concentration that has not existed for at least 15 million years, and the rapid rate at which we continue to pump out tens of millions of tons of heat-trapping pollutants every day is unprecedented. If our carbon dioxide emissions continue to persist unabated through the end of this century, “the human species and global ecosystems will be placed in a climate state never before experienced in human history,” says Jeffrey Kiehl, head of the Climate Science Research Section of the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research. A paper by Kiehl published in the January 2011 edition of the journal Science makes clear that if our emissions continue on their current trajectory, by the year 2100 carbon dioxide will reach a concentration in the atmosphere that has not occurred on Earth since about 35 million years ago, when temperatures in the polar regions were 15 to 20 degrees Celsius hotter than they are currently, and global temperatures averaged about 16 degrees Celsius higher than they are now. During that time there was no permanent sea ice in the Arctic Ocean and little, if any, ice on Greenland and Antarctica, and sea level was about 70 meters higher than it is today.

What would our planet be like if unmitigated anthropogenic climate change causes those conditions to occur again? Vast regions where more than half the world’s human population is currently living would be either submerged beneath rising seas or transformed into desiccated deserts too blisteringly hot to support human life. Ocean warming, acidification and anoxia would destroy marine ecosystems and extirpate innumerable ocean species, many of which humans depend upon for food. Extreme drought, insect infestations, diseases, wildfires, violent storms and epic floods would predominate across the globe. Those conditions would decimate forests, grasslands, wetlands, and agricultural regions. Shortages of freshwater and food would become severe and widespread.  Permafrost beneath the tundra and on the arctic seafloor would thaw, releasing gargantuan additional quantities of planet-heating gases into the atmosphere. Countless species of flora and fauna would go extinct. Human misery would, no doubt, reach pandemic proportions. Fundamentally, if current warming trends continue to the point that the Arctic can no longer support polar bears, the related climate impacts across the globe will be so severe and devastating that Earth will become a very different and far more hostile planet from the one on which humans evolved and the one on which human civilization depends.

As I stood on the deck of the Professor Khromov in the Chukchi Sea and strained to see the lone swimming polar bear buffeted by waves as she disappeared into the distance, the uncertainty of her fate weighed heavily on me. But the uncertain future of her entire species, and indeed the uncertain future facing all life on Earth, weighed on me even more.

[This article originally appeared in the January 2012 edition of Ocean Geographic Magazine, entitled “Ice Bear in Trouble.”]

A polar bear wanders along the ice-free shoreline of Wrangel Island in the Russian High Arctic in early August, subsisting on his fat reserves and waiting for sea ice to form again. Although in the past the ice remained near the island all year round, enabling bears to hunt for seals even in late summer, now the ice recedes far away toward the central polar basin for several months during the melt season. Wrangel was once called a “polar bear maternity ward” because several hundred mother bears denned and raised their cubs on the remote island annually. But Nikita Ovsyanikov, a Russian scientist who has been observing the bears for many years, notes that use of Wrangel for maternity denning is declining, apparently as the result of climate change. His data indicate that a maximum of only 60 to 70 females give birth to cubs on the island now, whereas in the early 1990s there were approximately 350 to 400 maternity dens in active use there each year.

About Jenny Ross

Jenny E. Ross is an award-winning Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers and a writer who focuses on wildlife natural history and conservation, environmental issues, and scientific research. Much of her work concerns the Arctic, the world’s bears, and the effects of climate change on wildlife and ecosystems.

The views expressed in this guest blog post are those of the International League of Conservation Photographers and not necessarily those of the National Geographic Society. Readers are welcome to exchange ideas or comments, but National Geographic reserves the right to edit or delete abusive or objectionable content.

Every expedition begins well before the official start and ends far after its conclusion. This is especially the case with The Black Turtle Project, an unfolding and evolving effort to join conservation photography, communication and biology.  I can assure you that this project began long ago and will live on into the future.  The past two weeks in Baja are just the start of a collaborative effort that will transpire over the coming year and document the nascent and emerging success story of the black sea turtle’s return to the Pacific coast of the Americas.

A flag marks one end of a poachers net, extending 300 m along the bottom of the bay. The illegal net was set at an historic monitoring site to catch black turtles for sale on the black market.

For myself, the expedition links back to graduate school and a decision to – against the odds, against my advisors’ wishes and with no funding to speak of – focus several decades of my life on sea turtle research and conservation.  For conservation photographer and Associate Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers, Neil Ever Osborne, this project also extends back into his past and includes his decision to pick up a camera and set aside a career as a biologist.  For our colleagues in Mexico, from Michoacan to Baja California, this project represents decades of committed conservation efforts, dedication in the face of despair, thousands of all-nighters and – most-recently – some signs of hope. The story of the black turtle is about people: poachers, children, scientists, artists, fishers, politicians, teachers, conservationists, photographers, narco-traffickers, guides, leaders and followers, musicians.  What I’ve come to realize is that all of the people in this story wear several of those hats, simultaneously or sequentially.

Alejandro Osuna and the rescued black turtle, pulled just in time from a poachers net.

In the late 1990′s the location in Baja that we are visiting now was one of our research sites. We caught black turtles here, tagged them, measured and weighed them and then released them back into the bay. We learned that young turtles caught here would return to the same spot, even if released in another part of the bay. But eventually poachers wiped out all of the sea turtles at our site, making our research impossible. So we moved our efforts to a different part of the bay.

Our temporary camp at Estero Los Cuervos. Leave no trace practices are used but the tides and the wind in the dunes ensure that even our footprints disappear within hours.

Alejandro Osuna was one of those sea turtle hunters. With his father he caught and cooked sea turtles right where we are camped now, in the mangrove-lined Estero Los Cuervos, a branch of Bahia Magdalena. Now Alejandro is our captain and guide, one of the local leaders working to bring back the turtles.  When we arrived to our former site to set our research nets we weren’t sure what we might find. Had the turtles come back, just like many other locations along the Baja coast or was the area still recovering. The plan was to set out our nets for 24 hours to find out if Estero Los Cuervos could be a viable monitoring site, as it was so many years ago. Our answer came more quickly than expected, but not using the techniques we anticipated.  At our site we found that a net was already there. It was an illegal net belonging to poachers who had set it for turtles. Alejandro wasn’t pleased.

A stingray, guitarfish, three young halibut, an undersized lobster and a black turtle were rescued from the net and all released alive. An hour longer and the turtle would have been dead.

We set to work pulling up the net and immediately removed a 48 cm juvenile black turtle. Another hour in the net and the turtle would have been dead. Two juvenile California halibut, a stingray, guitarfish and an undersize lobster followed. All went back into the bay alive, except for the turtle. This beauty had to wait for us to gather valuable data and apply a small tag to its rear flippers.  Alejandro decided that we would send a message to the poachers by twisting the net onto itself, requiring a frustrating process of detangling. The tides also did their work on the poorly positioned net, resulting in a big mess of mesh. We kept an eye on the gear through the night and set our own net which resulted in a second turtle. This one a near adult sized female.

Alejandro, assisted by Natalie Brandsma, measures the black turtle and records the information as part of a regional community-based sea turtle monitoring program coordinated by GrupoTortuguero.org in a dozen coastal towns throughout northwest Mexico.

The good news: the black turtles are back.

The bad news: so are the poachers.

The better news: the turtles have strong local allies now.

There’s still a long road ahead for the black turtle, but at least we are on the road.  That’s the kind of story this is: hopeful, heartbreaking, timeless and occasionally unbelievable. Learn more at Grupo Tortuguero

This project was fully funded thanks to Emphas.is.

Nichols in the bow of the panga, checking the illegal net and listening as the poacher's boat motored closer. Poachers came within 50 m of their net, but then turned away when they realized the researchers were there. They returned in the morning to salvage their tangled net

About Dr. Wallace J. Nichols

Wallace “J.” Nichols spends his time discovering nature.  He spent his youth exploring oceans and forests, as well as his own family history.  Resulting in a fascination for genetics and animal migration, as well as human culture and conservation. Through field research, his work with commercial fishermen, and the time he spends in coastal villages, he encounters among people a common appreciation for the ocean’s beauty, abundance and mysteries.  Nichols finds successful conservation efforts often include unexpected alliances and that there is common ground to be found between so-called “enemies” of nature.

About Neil Ever Osborne

I am an associate member of the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP) and a contributing editor and photographer for the Canadian Wildlife Magazine. Using conservation photography practices, I blend my backgrounds in science and photojournalism to bridge gaps between people whose conservation goals are best met through collaboration.

The views expressed in this guest blog post are those of the International League of Conservation Photographers and not necessarily those of the National Geographic Society. Readers are welcome to exchange ideas or comments, but National Geographic reserves the right to edit or delete abusive or objectionable content.