Gabriel O current event post

Ice Free Water Ways

By; Gabriel Oakes

When you think of melting ice in the arctic you probably think about polar bears, but what about whales?

In the arctic, melting ice has allowed humpback whales to travel there in the winter to feed, this is causing the bow and Fin whales to compete with the humpback whales over food that they usually have all to themselves. This is not just a whale problem, the melting ice is letting in other species in as well, and this change is hurting many native species. "We see winners and losers as changes accelerate, and some of the winners are likely to be those that are most adaptable and resilient to change," says Sue Moore,  a senior scientist at NOAA Fisheries. many scientists are studying the remains of marine mammals from 4000 years ago to see how they adapted to changes in their environment and diet.

reading this article I was surprised that arctic ice melting didn't just affect animals like polar bears or other arctic life that lived on ice, but affected whales too! the article explains this issue well and told what scientists were doing in to response to this growing problem. the author didn't have a opinion but included the scientists opinen well and without bias.

some questions I still have is what will happen if the bow and fin whales die out because humpback whales out compeat them. These questions can only be answered with time sadly scientists can't do anything to stop this, but can monitor the situation to see the product of this meeting of environments and how it affects the other environments that the whales left. this info could help better understand what will happen if something similar happens in the world either in or out of the ocean.