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Evironmental threats to marine mammals in the Canadian Arctic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

Ian Stirling  and
Wendy Calvert
Ian Stirling
Affiliation:
Canadian Wildlife Service, 5320–122 Street, Edmonton, Alberta, CanadaT6H 3S5
Wendy Calvert
Affiliation:
Canadian Wildlife Service, 5320–122 Street, Edmonton, Alberta, CanadaT6H 3S5
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Extract

The Arctic Ocean is the home of three major groups of mammals that depend on the sea for survival and show varying degrees of adaptation for maritime life. Most fully adapted are the whales (Cetacea), which never leave the water, and the seals and walruses (Pinnipedia) that feed entirely at sea but emerge onto land or ice for pupping and basking. Less exclusively marine are two species of the order Carnivora—Polar Bears (Ursus maritimus), that seldom live far from the sea because they feed almost entirely upon seals, and Arctic Foxes (Alopex lagopus), some of which move out onto the sea ice during the winter, mainly to scavenge on the remains of seals killed by Polar Bears.

Type
Articles
Information
Polar Record , Volume 21 , Issue 134 , May 1983 , pp. 433 - 449
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

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