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OK, there are some ecological issues with introducing a foreign species to a pristine wilderness but the conditions are pretty much the same.
It will save the bears the trouble of "turning brown and adapting to living on land".
Bear with me
http://www.flickr.c...tindale/2240010055/
[Ian Tindale, Sep 28 2008]
Just one problem.
http://www.lindseya...enguins&cymbals.jpg
[2 fries shy of a happy meal, Sep 28 2008]
Cane Toads
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0130529/
How not to introduce a foreign species to a continent. A lesson in unintended consequences. And history repeats itself yet again. [Amos Kito, Sep 29 2008]
scan of article
http://lh5.ggpht.co...00/bipolar_bear.jpg
in which RAP proclaims one of his fables. [neelandan, Oct 02 2008]
Scientists suggest not to save polar bears by shipping them to Antarctica
http://www.eurekale.../uota-gwe071508.php
An international team of conservation scientists from Australia, the United Kingdom and United States, including University of Texas at Austin Professor Camille Parmesan, call for new conservation tactics, such as assisted migration, in the face of the growing threat of climate change. They report their policy ideas in a paper published July 18 in the journal Science. The authors argue that both the rapid rate of climate change and the presence of human-made barriers to natural movement will prevent many species from shifting where they live in response to changes in local climate. They suggest that human-assisted translocation of individuals, often termed "assisted migration" or "assisted colonization," may be necessary to ensure colonization of new geographic regions as parts or all of the historical species' range becomes unsuitable. "When I first brought up this idea some 10 years ago in conservation meetings, most people were horrified," Parmesan said. "But now, as the reality of global warming sinks in, and species are already becoming endangered and even going extinct because of climate change, I'm seeing a new willingness in the conservation community to at least talk about the possibility of helping out species by moving them around." Parmesan and her colleagues point out that assisted migration can never be a major solution for wildlife, but could conceivably be used to help a few species that biologists and the public deem to be important enough for the effort and could otherwise go extinct. The species would need to be easy to collect, raise or move. Its habitat requirements would need to be well understood, and there would need to be viable habitat options outside of the species' current range. The authors present a conceptual framework for just how such decisions might be made. This framework includes fundamental biological questions which much be addressed before decisions to act can be made, such as risk of extinction if nothing is done versus risk of harm to the new community if the species is moved there. In addition to biological considerations, their framework includes social dimensions of the issue, such as cost and inherent value people place on the target species. The authors argue that the most suitable scenario is when the risk of extinction of the target species is high in its historic range, but the risk to the community into which the species will be imported is low. It might also be appropriate when the likelihood of successful colonization is high, but the time and cost to perform the transplantation is low. "Passively assisting coral reef migration may be acceptable, but transplanting polar bears to Antarctica, where they would likely drive native penguins to extinction, would not be acceptable," Parmesan said. "Ultimately, the decision about whether to actively assist the movement of a species into new territories will rest on ethical and aesthetic grounds as much as on hard science," she said. "Conservation has never been an exact science, but preserving biodiversity in the face of climate change is likely to require a fundamental rethinking of what it means to 'preserve biodiversity.'" [django, Oct 02 2008]
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Save "the" polar bear? I had no idea things
were that bad! |
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Aye, dreadful grim, sorrr, there be but woun left so if we're to continue the species we'll haf to be actin' naow. |
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But if there be only "woun", won't there already be a sma problem with repopulation of the species? I mean, the way I recall it, outside of the laboratory at least, it takes two to procreate. Aye? |
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Can I just reserve a space for a "bipolar
bear" joke until I'm ready? |
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Ha' ye no heard of immaculate conception, [jurist]? |
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/but the conditions are pretty much the same./ |
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In addition, there are emperor penguins to eat. |
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Shipping polar bears to Antarctica has been mentioned before here, possibly by [django]. |
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Re: cane toads
<imagines someone in a 4x4 trying to run over hundreds of pesky polar bears> |
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//Can I just reserve a space for a "bipolar bear" joke until I'm ready?
MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 28 2008//
Not if it is the same one that appeared in a cartoon in Viz at Christmas time..... |
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Robert A Pease wrote in one of his columns in Electronic Design Magazine about a "Bipolar Bear". |
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It is a bear who has a head at both ends. |
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"If there is a head at both end, how does he ... um .. er .. eliminate?" |
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One end just has bad breath, right? |
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"That is why he is the meanest, orneriest bear of the whole lot" |
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Or something like that. I shall scan the thing and put it up. |
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//Save the ...//
Collect the whole set. |
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Won't they eat all the penguins? |
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//Won't they eat all the penguins?//
No, 'cos with their big paws, they can't get the wrappers off. |
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//a bear who has a head at both ends// |
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Not the fastest creature in the world Id bet |
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//a bear who has a head at both ends//
Didn't know if he was coming or going. |
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//a bear who has a head at both ends// |
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It could meet in the middle. |
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I've thought that floating ocean seaweed like sargassum could be engineered to be protein rich |
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the polar bears could go vegetarian that way |
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Whoa! Imagining skinny bears with low energy levels and a deep, abiding concern for the future of the planet. |
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Here is the quote from the magazine "Electronic Design" August 1995, page 96: |
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Now, to end with, I shall recite an old esaeP's fable: |
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A group of engineers were debating about which animal is the fiercest. One engineer said the tiger is the fiercest animal. Another argued that the lion is much fiercer. Along came a marketing guy. He said, "You guys are all wrong. The fiercest animal is the Bipolar Bear." Everybody looked at him quizzically. "Yes, the Bipolar Bear is the biggest, meanest, orneriest, fiercest animal that is, and he has a head on both ends. That's why he is called the Bipolar Bear." |
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Everybody shut up and looked thoughtful. Finally one engineer asked "...but ... if he has a head on both ends ... how does he ... ELIMINATE?" And the marketing guy said, "Well, he DOESN'T eliminate. And that is WHY he is the biggest, the meanest, the fiercest, the orneriest ...."
So if you see a fierce circuit made with npn and pnp transistors, and it is really mean and ornery, perhaps that might be because it is a Bipolar Bear. |
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can't we just send McPalin out there herself, to do the movin'? |
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[UnaBubba] did you take this idea from the recently published study saying we should not ship polar bears to Antarctica even though other types of assisted migration can be useful? See link. |
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No, I didn't. Interesting that it's the subject of a serious proposal. Now I'll have to find and read the whole report. Damn you, [django]! I thought of the idea when I read about Sarah Palin's blonde moment on the subject. |
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I did think of trying to confine them to a secure compound to protect penguins but I realised that bears are too smart to permanently enclose so I made it a simple, unworkable idea. |
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[django] Yes, that's where I heard the 'eat the penguins' objection. Thanks. |
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Finally, Gary Larson will be vindicated! |
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//turning brown and adapting to living on land//
Isn't that what they were like 200,000 yrs ago anyway? Saw a news story on a zoo where they were feeding fish to their PBs. They didn't look too thrilled. I can imagine the bears thinking "Fish again? I could sure go for a ringed seal right now." |
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