Walrus Freya and the pain of climate change

【Global Vision】

Guangming Daily reporter Deng Yufei

Freya, the walrus who continues to dominate Nordic media headlines, says goodbye to people. The Norwegian government announced that on August 14 it had "euthanized" walruses that had been resting in the waters off the capital Oslo. The female walrus came to Oslo in July and was named "Freya" by the Norwegians, the name of the goddess of love and magic in Norse mythology.

Walruses are uncommon near Oslo. During her stay in Norway, Freya the walrus leisurely moved her 600-kilogram body every day, climbed onto civilian boats docked in the fjord, and sunbathed without anyone around. Although Freya's appearance also caused a lot of trouble in the local area, it quickly became popular on Nordic social media. Its arrival and departure seem to be a reminder of the pain caused by climate change to polar organisms.

1. Walrus becomes Nordic "Internet celebrity"

Walruses are endemic to the Northern Hemisphere and are found in the Arctic. China is not the distribution of walruses, so Chinese people may be unfamiliar with the living habits of walruses, but most of them are familiar with the appearance and morphology of walruses. After all, walruses have the magic to impress everyone — a clumsy, cute animal that moves. Adult walruses are huge, usually growing up to 1 ton. Although it looks "ugly and ugly", when the behemoth weighing more than 1 ton moves towards you, even if it behaves well, it is inevitable that people will have a little chill on their backs. According to the World Wildlife Fund, more than 25,000 walruses have made their home in the icy waters around Canada, Greenland, Norway and Russia.

Due to its habits, walruses find a place to rest after filling their stomachs and before their next hunger, which is why Freya, who appears in Norway this time, always climbs on the boat to bask in the sun without hesitation. Sea ice floes are generally the preferred choice for walruses when resting, and for walruses who have traveled thousands of miles to rest in the Oslo Fjord, there must be some unavoidable reason for giving up sea ice. According to WWF, walruses tend to spend their summers in icy waters, and their habitat changes as climate changes and sea ice is lost.

Since its first discovery on Oslo Beach on July 17, the walrus Freya has become a Nordic "Internet celebrity", and many local residents and tourists have come to take photos with her. Freya is a five-year-old female walrus. It appeared in Europe in 2019 and was first noticed, with lovely pink spots on its nose and unique scars on its sea tusks. In three years, it was found off the coast of the Netherlands, Denmark and the United Kingdom. When it came to the Netherlands in 2019, it also climbed the deck of the Royal Dutch Navy's "Walrus-class" submarine to bask in the sun, and became popular on the Internet, and many animal lovers have participated in the activity of recording its travel traces.

Norwegian biology professor Loon Ay, who has long tracked walruses, told reporters that in recent years walruses have occasionally appeared on the shores of some Nordic waters, but they generally leave quickly because they are afraid of humans. But Freya, the walrus, is "not afraid of people." Ai argues: "Actually, I think Freya might like people. That's why it doesn't leave. ”

2. Freya the Walrus's Last Journey

After coming to Norway, Freya the walrus constantly searched the bays of Oslo for suitable small boats to sleep on. Walruses can sleep up to 20 hours a day, but Freya is particularly active, and local residents often record it frolicking with ducks and swans on mobile phone cameras.

However, many local residents are worried that this 600-kilogram "big guy" will bring danger. Although walruses do not usually attack humans, once they are provoked, they can also become aggressive. Explorer Donald Macmillan, in his 1918 biography Four Years in the White North, detailed a tragic incident in Svalbas in which a group of walruses rammed a ship, capsizing and killing its sailors. In 2019, a walrus also nearly overturned a small Russian research vessel.

In a photo released by Norway's local Fisheries Bureau, many onlookers are standing within the "reach" distance of walrus Freya. According to local reports in Norwegian media, Freya damaged many boats while resting on a boat climb and once knocked a nearby boy into the water. The Norwegian Fisheries Service, after receiving a report of the arrival of Freya the walrus, has been alerting the personnel and vessels concerned to safety and closely following its movements.

On August 14, the local government announced that for various reasons, the walrus Freya was finally "euthanized". Norwegian Fisheries Director-General Frank Barker-Jensen said it was because walrus Freya "poses a constant threat to the safety of the local population". "Through observations over the past week, the public has ignored the current recommendation to distance itself from walruses.") Buck Jensen said. Although the government considered relocating Freya, it was too difficult and eventually had to be abandoned. Buck-Jensen said, "We sympathize with the fact that this decision may provoke a public reaction, but I firmly believe it is the right decision, we take animal welfare very seriously, but human life and safety must come first." ”

The news caused resentment among many local residents and netizens, and the animal protection group Blue Planet Society said that killing Freya was a wrong decision either way. Many netizens believe that this could have been an important opportunity for the Norwegian government to show people how to protect and respect wildlife, but the government's final choice was very disappointing.

Ai said that according to his long-term follow-up study of walruses, Freya will leave the Oslo Fjord sooner or later, so the local government's choice to euthanize Freya is completely unnecessary. ”。 Ai told reporters that he had followed the story of an Asian elephant family that had taken place in China in 2021 as they migrated from Yunnan. He had thought that this could have been a reference for Europeans to get along with Freya, the walrus.

More netizens indignantly said that the walrus Freya was obviously a "climate refugee" who had destroyed its glacial homeland and forced it to come to Norway to find a habitat. Now, the government has decided to kill several boats because it has damaged several ships and is too close to tourists. Many people feel that human destruction of the climate is an important reason why Freya was initially trapped in the Baltic Sea. "Freya, the world doesn't deserve you."

3. The walrus tragedy under climate change

In the mid-1950s, the number of Pacific walrus subspecies in walruses also fell to only 50,000 to 100,000 due to unrestricted hunting. Today, in northern Europe and North America, walruses are actually well protected. In addition to the Inuit, Yupick and other local natives can carry out a small number of traditional walrus hunting activities, other walrus hunting, trafficking in walrus products are illegal.

Walruses, which were once ruthlessly hunted by humans, have had a moment of peace, but now they seem to face other threats. In recent years, the environment of walrus habitats has been constantly changing due to climate change.

According to biologists, the walrus Freya should have come from somewhere in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard in the Arctic Ocean, which lies roughly between Norway's northern coast and the Arctic. The habitat of the walrus Freya was supposed to be a cold environment, about 60% of which is covered by glaciers, and the islands are home to numerous mountains and fjords. There are about 3,000 people living in the area, and about 2,000 walruses live here.

The effects of climate change are particularly pronounced in Svalbard. From 1970 to 2020, the average temperature there rose by 4 degrees Celsius, and in winter by 7 degrees Celsius. Some experts believe that melting sea ice has affected the habitat selection of walruses. On the one hand, most of the walruses "have no ice to go" and have to squeeze together to the coast. On the other hand, changes in the environment have brought about changes in marine life populations, which has made the food source of walruses more uncertain. When it comes to the unfamiliar coastal environment, the tragedy of trampling and falling off the cliffs in the walrus colony often occurs.

In 2019, the streaming media video website Netflix released the documentary "Our Planet", which recorded a sad picture - the walrus collectively fell from the cliff and died. The documentary was filmed on the northeast coast of Russia, the largest walrus colony on Earth, and captured the scene of 100,000 walruses gathering on the beach. As climate change has reduced sea ice, the ice has receded further north, and walruses have to roost on the beach closest to their prey area.

A scene in the documentary made many viewers feel heart-wrenching. Some walruses, which managed to find more room to move outside the dense area, climbed a steep cliff 80 meters high in an attempt to find enough rest space on it. However, due to the poor vision of walruses after they emerge from the water, they can only perceive the sound of the same kind under the cliff, and they cannot see the terrain they are in. So when they were hungry and wanted to return to the sea to start hunting, the walruses instinctively moved downwards, but one after another jumped directly from the cliff and died. The beach below the cliffs is littered with discolored walrus corpses, densely packed, and the picture makes the audience sad. "They're all at the forefront of climate change and are suffering the consequences."

"This scene is the result of climate change," said Ranfer, producer of Our Planet, "and it's heartbreaking."

4. What is a walrus home?

On the northwest coast of Alaska in the summer, thousands of walruses have nowhere to rest at sea due to melting ice in the sea, and often gather on the coast. Beginning in the summer of 2007, walruses began migrating heavily to the coasts of nearby land in September as sea ice melted in the Arctic Ocean. In recent years, walruses recorded in Alaska have come ashore more and more ahead of schedule, which some experts believe indicate that the rate of sea ice melting is accelerating.

Although the spectacular sight of thousands of walruses gathering on the shore attracts many people to want to see it, the local government emphasizes every year that humans should disturb these walruses as little as possible so as not to alarm them and cause them to have a stampede when they escape into the sea. In addition, the local population is sparse enough to carry the influx of tourists.

In 2015, when then-US President Barack Obama was visiting Alaska in the summer, he happened to encounter a Shanghai elephant ashore, and Obama also took the opportunity to give a speech at the "Glacier Conference" hosted by the United States, calling for attention to climate issues and discussing the impact of climate change on the Arctic.

However, the melting of Arctic sea ice due to warming continues. The National Bureau of Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration released its Arctic Report Card in 2021, saying that "climate change will continue to fundamentally alter this once reliable frozen region." The agency's long-term follow-up study shows that although the sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean each year still extends and regresses with seasonal changes, the area of older ice in the Arctic Ocean is shrinking at an alarming rate. The melting of large amounts of sea ice and the excessive regression of sea ice have led to a decrease in the amount of ice floes offshore, and a decrease in the amount of ice floes that walruses can inhabit and use.

Shaye Wolfe, director of climate science at the U.S. Center for Biodiversity, proposed to the U.S. government back in 2008 that animals like walruses be given more protection during their disembarkation. "These animals are under tremendous pressure from climate change."

Perhaps, Freya the walrus is a helpless "wanderer" under the influence of climate change. Summer and autumn are a special time for walruses, exacerbated by climate change as temperatures rise and sea ice begins to melt. The decrease in the amount of sea ice has led to the "ice-free return" of walruses, and many walruses can only drift with the melting sea ice. According to expert analysis, Freya may have accompanied a certain piece of drifting sea ice, leaving the Arctic and coming to Europe.

I don't know if the story of the ugly walrus Freya can awaken more people.

link

Walruses and walrus tusks

Walruses have their signature tusks, which have a variety of uses to make them more adapted to life in the Arctic. Walruses can use puffs to drag their huge bodies out of the cold water, so they are labeled "walking with their teeth". Sometimes they move under the ice, chiseling out breathing holes with sea tusks. Both male and female walruses have puffins, and some can grow up to about three feet. In fact, the tusk is a large canine tooth that continues to grow throughout the life of the walrus, and many male walruses can grow up to 1 meter in the tusks. Male walruses also actively use their walrus tusks to maintain their territory and protect their female mates during the mating season.

Other biometrics of walruses are equally useful. To find food such as shellfish near the dark seafloor, walruses use their extremely sensitive whiskers as "detection devices." Their oil-rich bodies allow them to better maintain their heat, live comfortably in the Arctic, and withstand the polar temperatures of the surrounding waters by slowing their heartbeats.

Walruses are highly social animals and tend to live in large groups. Outside of the mating season, male walruses and female walruses live in separate groups. The average lifespan of walruses in the wild is 30-40 years. Currently, it is listed as "vulnerable" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.

Goddess Freya

In his 1930 book ABC of Norse Mythology, Mr. Mao Dun introduced, "Freya, the god of beauty and love in Norse mythology, does not refer specifically to the beauty of women and the love of children. On the other hand, she also had a very pure masculine personality, leading the Valkyries to the battlefield to select warriors who died in battle, and half of the warriors were brought by her and placed in the Grand Palace of Cessrinir. ”

In the long Norse mythological poem "Edda", Freya is depicted as a warrior attire on the upper part of her body, wearing gold armor and helmets, holding shields and spears, and the lower part of her body is the attire of a Nordic woman. In Norwegian mythology, Freya is one of the most important and famous gods, and her mount is a wild boar with a golden mane.

(Arranged by Deng Yufei)

Guangming Daily (2022.08.25. 14th edition)

Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily