Scientists Debate Moving Polar Bears to Antarctica as Arctic Melts

Scientists are obviously reaching a point of true desperation. While the world still debates whether climate change is even real (eye roll), the scientific community is coming back to an idea that was once considered wrongheaded and dangerous: moving species to new areas of the world as their natural habitats become inhabitable. First up: moving the polar bears to the other side of the globe.

From Wired:

Caught between climate change and human pressure, species are going extinct 100 times faster than at any point in human history.

And some scientists say that figure is too conservative. The real extinction rate, they say, is a full 1,000 times higher than normal. The last time such annihilation took place was during the time of the dinosaurs. And though many conservationists say that saving species by transplanting them is foolish, others say there’s no choice.

“They want the world to be what it was before. But it’s not going to happen,” said Australian ecologist Hugh Possingham, author of an assisted-colonization article published Thursday in Science (citation page).

This does indeed seem like a very bad idea. Who knows what the effects could be of moving species so far away from their natural habitats? After all, such a move will affect the entire global ecosystem. The animal kingdom would have to figure out a new hierarchy. The consequences would be massive. It’s truly frightening to imagine that we are nearly to the point of needing a modern-day Noah’s Ark.

Link [Wired]
Photo credit: Flickr user edanley

Five Star April Fools From the BBC: Flying Penguins

First up- flying penguins from Terry Jones and the BBC.

Now THAT is an April Fools joke.