Like Giraffes, Reindeer And Polar Bears Are Also Declining Fast

It's indeed bad times for the wildlife. Recently, reports came out about giraffes, the tallest animal on earth, facing threats to their survival, leaving environmentalists a worried lot.

Now, new studies have found that the reindeer population in northern Russia and other parts of the Artic is also declining. Besides, researchers have also warned against the decline of polar bears by about one-third over the next 30-40 years.

Andrey Petrov, a geographer at the University of Northern Iowa said on Monday (December 12) that the reindeer population in the world and caribou are declining fast at a news conference at the annual American Geophysical Union Meeting, a Live Science article said. Petrov, who is a co-author of the study which shows the decline of the reindeer in northern Russia, also added that they didn't know the reason which is causing this.

The reindeer population in Tamiyr Peninsula in far north Russia had peaked in 2000 to over 1 million, thanks to the dramatic fall in hunting in the post-Soviet days. But since then, the number of reindeer which constitutes one-fourth of the animal's global population, has dwindled. One of the reason for the decline in the reindeer population is inbreeding, said another Live Science report.

Another report published in AP said reindeer habituating the Arctic island of Svalbard are becoming smaller in size and scientists have held climate change responsible for this.

According to the report, scientists from Britain and Norway said the reindeer of Svalbard born in 2010 weigh as much as 20 percent less on an average than their predecessors born in 1994.

Steve Albon, an ecologist at Scotland's James Hutton Institute, has given an explanation on this. He said the rising temperature in the Artic region is causing more rain in Svalbard and that in turn creates hard ice sheet which the reindeer is finding difficult to break through to get their food.