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CRITTERS NEED ALARM CLOCKS

Reported in The Guardian:

Climate change is bringing animals out of hibernation prematurely, making them lose weight and causing them stress, Italian scientists said yesterday. Spring-like temperatures too early in the year are waking animals up sooner and putting their feeding and breeding habits out of kilter with the environment.

Meanwhile, in Canada:

Bears in the suburbs north of Vancouver have been coming out of hibernation as hungry as ever but later than usual this spring because of a heavier than normal snowpack from the winter. The report Thursday was one of six complaints police said they received about bears in the area that day.

Not cold enough for some; too cold for others. Why can’t the weather be perfect all the time? I blame humans.

(Via Peter N.)

Posted by Tim B. on 06/21/2006 at 11:45 AM
  1. O/T: NYC more polite than Toronto.

    Torontonians responded by saying that they’re much more polite than the stupid, brainless, imperialistic, violent, gun-toting, fat, fat, FAT, FAT swinish xenophobic slobbering racist imbecile Americans.

    In other news, Canada is superior because Americans are nationalistic and Canadians aren’t.

    Posted by P. Froward on 2006 06 21 at 12:01 PM • permalink

  2. Climate change is bringing animals out of hibernation prematurely, making them lose weight and causing them stress, Italian scientists said yesterday.

    No, it’s all those Italian scientists zipping around on their Vespas, playing pick-up soccer games, and slurping espresso that’s disturbing the slumber of our dumb chums.

    Posted by paco on 2006 06 21 at 12:03 PM • permalink

  3. Thankfully we don’t don’t have creatures here in oz that hiberbate (well not many anyway,  for all you biology nerds out there) ...

    Posted by llew77 on 2006 06 21 at 12:08 PM • permalink

  4. Not cold enough for some; too cold for others. Why can’t the weather be perfect all the time?

    Damned global warming  cooling  climate change  climate variability.

    Posted by Dave S. on 2006 06 21 at 12:23 PM • permalink

  5. Spring-like temperatures too early in the year are waking animals up sooner and putting their feeding and breeding habits out of kilter with the environment.

    Liars.

    Early Spring = Early Growing Season = Early Mating Season = Early Buffet for Early Rising Polar Bears.

    Nice try, Swampy.

    Posted by bovious on 2006 06 21 at 12:23 PM • permalink

  6. Because, like, without that global warming thingy, spring-like temperatures had always first come about on exactly the same day each year. Now spring’s gone schizophrenic.

    Posted by PW on 2006 06 21 at 12:31 PM • permalink

  7. I blame Bush and Howard.

    Posted by Kathy from Austin on 2006 06 21 at 12:32 PM • permalink

  8. Two Italian scientists sitting outside cave of hibernating bear

    Dr. Antonetti: So, you thinka she’s-a sleepin’. I thinka shes-a sleepin’.

    Dr. Scavola: Whatsamattah for you?!? Can’t-a you hear-a her snore? Sure, she’s-a sleepin’.

    Dr. Antonetti: Sluuurrrpp! Ah, that’s-a good espresso! I dunno. I think-a I hear her wakin’ up.

    Dr. Scavola: Turns radio on. The strains of Dean Martin’s “Volare” fill the morning air No, goombah, that’s-a my stomach rumbling. I no canna take-a that fake Chef Boy-Ar-Dee spaghetti. If you think-a she’s a-wakin’ up, stick-a you head in the cave an’ see.

    Dr. Antonetti: Well, ok. Maybe I just-a take a quick peek. Pops head into cave. Hey, bear! You still-a sleepin’?

    Roaring noise. Exit two Italian scientists, pursued by bear.

    Posted by paco on 2006 06 21 at 12:43 PM • permalink

  9. #8 Paco, at what point did they weigh the beast to verify that it’s losing weight?

    Posted by stats on 2006 06 21 at 12:48 PM • permalink

  10. #10: I believe they just made a quick “ballpark” estimate as they ran for their Vespas.

    Posted by paco on 2006 06 21 at 12:50 PM • permalink

  11. Canadians.  There ya go again. Always gotta be different.  Why can’t you Canucks just get on-board and melt like everybody else? Haven’t seen the movie?

    And for cryin out loud its ABOUT not abayoot.

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2006 06 21 at 01:02 PM • permalink

  12. Picking on the seal bashers again eh?

    Posted by Stop Continental Drift! on 2006 06 21 at 01:12 PM • permalink

  13. Didn’t they have this kind of stuff solved by royal decree in Camelot? I am pretty sure that King Arthur sang the Kyoto agreement didn’t he?

    “It’s true! It’s true! The crown has made it clear.
    The climate must be perfect all the year.

    A law was made a distant moon ago here:
    July and August cannot be too hot.
    And there’s a legal limit to the snow here
    In Camelot.
    The winter is forbidden till December
    And exits March the second on the dot.
    By order, summer lingers through September
    In Camelot.
    Camelot! Camelot!
    I know it sounds a bit bizarre…”

    Posted by moptop on 2006 06 21 at 01:22 PM • permalink

  14. Ack, paco has trapped this thread in an infinite feedback loop again…

    Posted by PW on 2006 06 21 at 01:41 PM • permalink

  15. #14 Ack, paco has trapped this thread in an infinite feedback loop again

    Huh? Whazzat?

    Posted by paco on 2006 06 21 at 02:03 PM • permalink

  16. Spring-like temperatures too early in the year are waking animals up sooner and putting their feeding and breeding habits out of kilter with the environment.

    Because, dammit, they don’t know what time to set the Mr. Coffee for, and they’re just grumpy old bears until they get their coffee!

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2006 06 21 at 02:12 PM • permalink

  17. Btw, did you know that Virginians from the Chesapeake Bay area prounouce “about” the same way Canadians do?

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2006 06 21 at 02:14 PM • permalink

  18. #17: Yes, they do. In fact, you hear the same pronunciation among natives of the Outer Banks in North Carolina, too. Probably one of those Scotch-Irish things.

    Posted by paco on 2006 06 21 at 02:39 PM • permalink

  19. Early hibernation wakings is why I always carry plenty of bear repellent on me when I’m downtown.

    The “aboot” is more the Maritimes than elsewhere (speaking of Scots-Irish). And I seem to recall that PBS hoser MacNeil’s The Story [History?] of English documentary also attributing it to the Ottawa Valley.

    Good summation, #1. Have you considered applying for a job at the Toronto Star? Just learn to make excuses for the Sunni side of the strata and you’re in.

    Posted by andycanuck on 2006 06 21 at 03:26 PM • permalink

  20. So that’s what happened to Canada!  I never knew that there had been a brain drain from Canada to America.  Imagine them all settling in the mid-Atlantic states.  This group was obviously brighter than that bunch of yahoos who sailed up the Mississippi delta into the swamps of Louisiana and declared themselves home.

    So what’s keeping you andyc?

    Posted by saltydog on 2006 06 21 at 04:44 PM • permalink

  21. I’m waiting for the amnesty deal to be straightened out first before I cross the border, salty. (And I’ll be finished my Spanish lessons by then too as an added bonus.) Woo-hoo! No more GST!

    Posted by andycanuck on 2006 06 21 at 04:47 PM • permalink

  22. 14 & 15
    !demoooood er’eW !!demooD

    Posted by Huck Foley on 2006 06 21 at 05:52 PM • permalink

  23. 322: Hey, I can read backwards! And I still don’t know what an “infinite feedback loop” is. Is that bad? If it is, I shall do my humble best to correct this shortcoming.

    Posted by paco on 2006 06 21 at 06:01 PM • permalink

  24. #17, 18 etc.  Well, as an Oz visiting western Canada, I can tell you that nearly everyone here pronounces things strangely.

    And they are dumb too.  I have to yell at them very loudly to make them understand.

    Posted by Stop Continental Drift! on 2006 06 21 at 07:04 PM • permalink

  25. moptop

    I can hear Richard Harris…

    Posted by kae on 2006 06 21 at 07:41 PM • permalink

  26. 32 ocaP

    ?dab taht sI .si “pool kcabdeef etinifni” na tahw wokn t’nod llits I

    Nghaaahhh!  STOP STOP you’re making it worse!!

    Posted by Huck Foley on 2006 06 21 at 08:10 PM • permalink

  27. Go ahead and sneer, hosers.  We still got your Cup.

    Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 06 21 at 08:14 PM • permalink

  28. There was snow in parts of Germany on May the 31st this year, resulting in the coldest Spring temperatures in 40 years, and we’re talking about late, late Spring here!

    Posted by Brian on 2006 06 21 at 09:11 PM • permalink

  29. #28, Brian,

    A late spring in Germany just shows that Algore is right and global warming is real.  You said yourself that it was the coldest May 31st in 40 years.  This proves that the higher ocean levels caused by the melting of the ice caps have caused the warm waters of the Gulf Stream to spin into a gigantic whirlpool and finally disappear into the Bermuda Triangle.  If it gets any warmer, all of Greenland, Iceland, Britain, Ireland, and large swaths of Europe will be under ice.

    Posted by saltydog on 2006 06 21 at 10:04 PM • permalink

  30. 8==^(
    You’re so cruel, Richard, just like Tim to that poor fellow from the Age. Cruel but true.

    Posted by andycanuck on 2006 06 21 at 10:25 PM • permalink

  31. Climate change is bringing animals out of hibernation prematurely, making them lose weight . . .

    The shorter the hibernation, the less weight an animal loses.  The above opening would be appropriate for a longer hibernation period.

    /Global Warming Scientists® making shiat up for International Grant Money©

    Posted by gajim on 2006 06 21 at 11:17 PM • permalink

  32. #26: JUST DEFINE IT, HUCK!!! I’M LIKE WINNIE THE POOH: A BEAR OF LITTLE BRAIN. SPELL IT OUT! FRONTWARDS!!!

    Posted by paco on 2006 06 22 at 12:10 AM • permalink

  33. It’s been effing cold in the mornings, but the days are lovely in Perth, WA, - record coldest temperature the other day!! -0.5C

    And we just had one of the coldest summers on record.

    Where is our global warming???

    Posted by Razor on 2006 06 22 at 12:44 AM • permalink

  34. 32

    REAB A :HOOP EHT EINNIW EKIL M’I !!!KCUH ,TI ENIFED TSUJ :62#

    Goodness sakes, I think there’s a loose frammis coil on this degibbricizer… maybe if I just tighten it up a bit ... ah!

    OF LITTLE BRAIN. SPELL IT OUT! FRONTWARDS!!!

    Spell what out frontwards?

    Posted by Huck Foley on 2006 06 22 at 06:42 AM • permalink

  35. So the climate shift is responsible for altering mating cycles?
    This might explain this sudden attraction I’ve developed for Miranda Divide, the buxom young lass that she is.  Rrrraaawwwwrrrrr!

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2006 06 22 at 08:47 AM • permalink

  36. #35, Noooo, you’ve just got your glasses on upside down.  There.  Now take another look.  Not so attractive now, eh?

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2006 06 22 at 10:21 AM • permalink

  37. There was snow in parts of Germany on May the 31st this year, resulting in the coldest Spring temperatures in 40 years, and we’re talking about late, late Spring here!

    And within two weeks, those same regions had 35+°C. Clearly the biggest threat isn’t climate change, it’s microclimate change.

    Posted by PW on 2006 06 22 at 10:35 AM • permalink

  38. Here We’re in the coldest winter in 120 years. But there has been little rain so it’s obvious we’ve upset Gaia somehow. It must be a Global Drying thing.

    Posted by Observer on 2006 06 22 at 11:32 AM • permalink

  39. Re:#29,

    Yeah Salty I heard that theory too, and it does sound somewhat plausible. However it fails to account for the record low temperatures seen across Russia, China, India and Japan earlier this year!

    Posted by Brian on 2006 06 22 at 09:20 PM • permalink

  40. #39, Brian,

    Heard what theory?  I was just spinning out thin strands of nonsense formed in the ragout that is my mind these days.  I wouldn’t expect it to explain anything whatsoever about anything whatsoever, much less the weather in Siberia and China.

    Posted by saltydog on 2006 06 23 at 12:10 AM • permalink

  41. Geez.. It may be amusing now but that is probably the only way you can cope with information of such a magnitude.

    The Gulf Stream is slowing because  

    ..one of the “engines” driving the Gulf Stream — the sinking of supercooled water in the Greenland Sea — has weakened to less than a quarter of its former strength.

    You can read the rest here, but do pay close attention to paragraph 3.

    Further, perturbations in the global weather are to be expected and will account for the VARIATIONS in regional weather that we are expeiencing now..

    Perhaps it is all a big lefty plot to crush the fragile and defencless worlds economies, but somehow I doubt that.
    Natural forces, whatever you label them, are quite impartial..

    How funny is that?

    Posted by drpoll on 2006 06 24 at 12:57 AM • permalink

  42. Whoops.
    Here is the omitted quote..
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1602579,00.html

    Posted by drpoll on 2006 06 24 at 12:59 AM • permalink

  43. And this is happening because of global warming, which is caused by human activity?

    Posted by saltydog on 2006 06 24 at 01:18 AM • permalink

  44. 43.. Subtle,unexpected turn of questioning..
    I believe the consensus amongst level headed, non oil (etc) industry financed scientists is YES.
    Have you discovered (an) other plausible,  supportable mechanism(s) to account for these increased temperatures of the oceans?

    Or perhaps they are not really happening and these guys have dropped the ball again..
    http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/

    Posted by drpoll on 2006 06 24 at 06:02 AM • permalink

  45. Holy Shit Drpoll!!!! You’re right!!
    Its gotten 40 frickin degrees hotter since January!!! EYYyyyyeeeeeeee!!!! THE SUN IS FALLING THE SUN IS FAAAAALLLLLIIINGG! Quick, drive your Subaru off a cliff before its too late and you melt or drown or whatever!!!!!!!

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2006 06 24 at 07:56 AM • permalink

  46. #41Geez.. blah, blah, blah… How funny is that?
    I don’t get it. Where’s the punch line?

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2006 06 24 at 08:00 AM • permalink

  47. I’m curious about several things here, Drpoll:  You say the ice is melting because of global warming caused by human activity.  I do not argue with the facts that say the surface temperature of some parts of the worlds oceans are rising.  The dispute is in the interpretations of these facts and the extrapolations made as to the consequences.  I do not see that we know nearly enough to make valid extrapolations at this point. 


    Frankly, Drpoll, it isn’t the science that I have the most trouble with, though I certainly do have a problem with much of what is being posited as certain knowledge, based on very scant data.  It is the politics involved that makes even the science suspect because of the funding involved.  You like to sneer at the oil companies as having a vested interest, but you ignore the vested interests of scientists on the UN, and/or other governmental payrolls.  The fact that many of the same people, including scientists, who cry for Kyoto are also those who would like to humiliate, and otherwise bring down the United States, is at least as powerful a motive to lie as that you ascribe to the oil business. 


    I have seen this same pattern many, many times before.  The problems mankind has are the same problems mankind has always had:  how to control his environment to assure his survival.  There is no standing still; man either progresses or he slides into atavism and mass death. No matter how afraid you are of all you don’t understand, you will not assuage your fear by attempting to stopping man’s progress. 

    If you would convince others of your argument, you do not pretend knowledge that you don’t have; you do not point to opinion pieces and articles written by ignorant journalists with a political agenda; and you do not link to something that doesn’t say what you say it does (that is a real insult to one’s intelligence).  I will add, Drpoll, that if you are actually interested in a reasoned discussion, you do not begin by entering a room and spitting at everyone in sight.  If you are hostile, you can expect the hostility to be returned.  In spades.

    Posted by saltydog on 2006 06 24 at 09:42 AM • permalink

  48. 45/46.. Reread your and other posts decrying the possibility of major global changes and the impact on many people and countries. The scientists are being quite dispassionate and cautious with their information, because they know that this is precisely what will happen. Shrill naysayers will sneer at those who suggest a more cautious approach.

    47.. The validation of the method is that several past models have been quite accurate.
    Or do you deny the reproducibility which is the crux of scientific methodological?

    I don’t think it is about bringing down the USA. Its much more about dismay, disbelief at the egregious behaviour of the bushites and their unbelievable criminality, stupidity and ignorance.
    95% of pretty much the entire world population and more than 60% of the US population disapprove (as you must be aware) of their performance, integrity and faith.
    Kyoto is a start. If that is seen as a political attack on the USA (and other energy profligates like Australia) then that is because of obfuscation by involved and interested parties.
    But that is off topic.

    You put energy into a closed sytem, it heats up Warm Ice melts. Warm water expands.
    That is physics.
    There is nothing political, sociological, metaphysical, economic, etc etc about that.
    Only the possible consequences on a global scale.

    Mankind in the shape of different cultures has certainly had many problems in the past re resource depletion an environmental dergradation and failure to see them coming or adapt to them has sometimes led to the demise of those different cultures.

    It is only since the industrial age that we have been able to do this on a truly global scale.

    I fail to see how consideration of how to minimise/ameliorate possible global upheaval is

    “..attempting to stopping man’s progress…

    Finally you know nothing of my knowledge, age or experience. So please don’t presume I am “deficient” in those areas, compared to you. Nor should you assign motives or emotions to me. Safer to stay with the facts and the science…

    Posted by drpoll on 2006 06 24 at 11:02 PM • permalink

  49. *Yawn*

    Posted by Observer on 2006 06 25 at 06:08 AM • permalink

  50. Re: #40,

    Thought you were making a point about the ‘Gulf Stream Theory’.

    Posted by Brian on 2006 06 25 at 09:50 PM • permalink

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