L.E. Carmichael's Blog, page 8

World Environment Day and the Problem of Polar Pollution

When I started research for Polar: Wildlife at the Ends of the Earth, I knew that Arctic and Antarctic ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to climate change. I didn’t know that they are also particularly vulnerable to pollution. It’s World Environment Day today, so I wanted to share some things about a threat that – I suspect – other people might not know much about either.

Plastic Pollution

First, a type of pollution that has received a lot of attention in the media: plastic pollution. Because the world’s oceans are really one big global ocean, plastic has an impact on both polar seas. 

Global oceans contain more than 250 million tonnes of plastic waste. More than 200 species of fish, mammals, turtles, and seabirds are known to eat plastic. Seabirds are particularly prone to this odd behaviour, and scientists have identified a possible explanation.

Algae are tiny plants that form the base of the ocean food chain. When krill and other tiny predators eat the algae, the plants release a chemical called DMS. Seabirds in the “tube-nose” family – like prions and petrels – can smell this chemical distress signal. They follow the scent, honing in on patches of ocean that are full of krill and the fish that eat krill. In other words, DMS is a dinner bell for seabirds.

Here’s the connection to pollution. Many commonly-used types of plastic float in seawater. Ocean algae grows on floating plastic – the same algae that release DMS. Less than a month after the plastic hits the water, it smells strongly enough of DMS to attract hungry seabirds. Scientists call this an “olfactory trap,” and estimate that, by 2050, 99% of seabird species will have eaten plastic. The consequences will range from physical blockage of their digestive systems to poisoning as the chemicals in and on plastic are absorbed by their bodies.

Fortunately, plastic pollution has received enough attention in the media that many countries are working to solve the problem. Remembering to bring our reusable bags into the grocery store is a small price to pay to protect petrels.

Shallow Soils and Slow Cycles

Ocean currents carry pollution to both poles. Currents in the atmosphere can have similar effects. For example, smelting of metal ores produces gases and airborne particles that can be carried on the winds. Ice cores taken from Greenland’s glaciers contain lead particles that date between 500 BCE and 300 CE. The lead is four times more concentrated than normal background levels, and was probably produced in Ancient Rome, during the manufacture of lead plumbing pipes. Radioactive particles from the Chernobyl explosion are also detectable in the Arctic, many miles away from their point of origin.

Once pollutants like these arrive in the polar regions, they tend to stick around. That’s because break-down, processing, and nutrient cycling is normally done by bacteria, fungi, and other decomposers… and nature’s recyclers only operate when temperatures are above freezing. 

Bioaccumulation

The vast majority of Antarctica stays frozen year round, but summer does come to the Arctic tundra. In peat bogs, rainwater can carry pollutants deeper into the soil than plant roots can reach. But in many areas of the Arctic, rock or permafrost is just a couple inches down. That means pollutants get trapped near the surface, where they are easily absorbed by plants. Once in the plants, they travel to the herbivores. Once in the herbivores, they travel to the carnivores. With every step up the food chain, pollutants become more and more concentrated.

This process is called bioaccumulation. If the pollutant is toxic, bioaccumulation can have devastating effects. For example, bioaccumulation of DDT pushed peregrine falcons – a species that nests in the Canadian Arctic – to the brink of extinction. The chemical interfered with formation of eggshells, and birds laid eggs so fragile that they were crushed under their parents’ bodies. Because of its effect on wildlife, DDT has been banned in North America, and peregrine populations have begun to recover. 

Fighting for the Future

Pollution is a bigger problem in the Arctic than Antarctica. That’s partly because more people have lived in the Arctic for much longer, and partly because of the strict international treaties that protect Antarctica from excessive human impacts.

In the Canadian Arctic, mining and oil industries are expanding, raising concerns about impact on fragile habitats. One potential problem is leakage from oil pipelines, as oil is toxic to many arctic plants. Up to 20% of the annual oil production of Russia is thought to be lost through leaky pipelines – a mind-boggling amount.

Human activity is absolutely a problem for the polar regions. But human activity can also be the solution. We’re banning plastic and pollutants like DDT. We took action to reduce acid rain and heal the holes in the ozone layer. This World Environment Day, let’s continue making choices that will protect some of the most vulnerable places on our planet.

Many organizations are working to protect Canada’s Arctic. Visit their websites to learn how you can help:

Ocean’s North: Canada’s Arctic Marine Atlas

Canadian Wildlife Federation

WWF: Arctic Species Conservation Fund

Wildlife Conservation Society Canada: Arctic Conservation

Nature Conservancy Canada: Boreal and Arctic

Arctic Council: Canada

 

Heather Camlot: Truth, Justice, and the Nonfiction Way

Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s book creators! Today’s guest: Heather Camlot . Take it away, Heather!

How does an author known for books about history, social justice and sports write a book about science and superheroes?  By calling up her past.

I never studied science, and I’m certainly not a superhero (I don’t think), but as a journalist I spent a decade writing health articles for leading Canadian magazines and websites, and even longer writing about the arts – film, television, fine arts and music — for publications on both sides of the border. Those two disparate topics – health and arts – were how I made my living for a very long time.

“I can do this all day” – Captain America

Fast-forward to my work translating articles for Owl Magazine from its French sister publication Les Débrouillards. But I didn’t just translate the words on the pages, I soaked up these amazing stories of flying men, invisible towers, and strong fibers made from slime. I saved them all, not only because I contributed to them, but because I felt like there was so much more to tell.

I continued to collect other fascinating stories that I came across in my daily newspaper and began researching online. Journalists are trained to do research, and I can easily lose myself in that online rabbit hole, digging and digging until I find a gem that I need to share. Some days I wish I could stay down there forever! Eventually, I had a treasure chest of gems, and somehow it struck me (with my super-brain?) that they were oddly similar to the superpowers that film, television and comics have been entertaining us with for almost a century. Science IS turning us into superheroes!  

“Flame on!” – The Human Torch

Using six main superpowers – parts, flight, sight, strength, brains and survival — to break up the content of what would become Becoming Bionic made it easier to do further research and draw up a nonfiction proposal about science and superheroes – about health and arts. And I sent that proposal along to the one publisher I knew would likely be interested: Sibling to Owl Magazine, Owlkids Books.

To give all these scientific advancements some shape and perspective, editors Karen Li and Stacey Roderick and I opted to start each of the “super” sections with a timeline of important scientific inventions. The side of my brain (reminder, I didn’t study science) that loves history was super-excited. My passion for social justice was satisfied by using the book’s conclusion to discuss the ethics of turning humans into immortals. As for sports, short write-ups are sprinkled throughout the book, from discussing athletic prostheses to the anatomy of a bodybuilder to the use of anabolic steroids.

“Thank you for your cooperation” – Black Widow

Writing Becoming Bionic was a challenge I was ready to take on. Unlike Wolverine, I’m not the best there is at what I do, but I knew my research and factchecking skills (a-hah, my superpowers!) would help me battle any bad science I came across, and I had three sidekicks who had my back: editor Stacey Roderick and my friends Mitchell Brown and Dr. Jonathan Fridell. This was my third book with Stacey and working with her gives me every confidence in the world that I can achieve what I’ve set out to do. Stacey also found illustrator Victor Wong. When she sent me the link to his website, I was blown away. His work in Becoming Bionic will blow readers away too. He made all the science way cooler than my words ever could. 

Mitchell is a comics fanatic and answered every question I threw at him. And I threw him a lot. I mean a lot. Jonathan, who reviewed the manuscript in its entirety, had more issues with my superhero references than my medical write-ups! Except for one point, which I included in the book and in the acknowledgments: that immortality can also come through organ donation and being remembered by others. As a transplant surgeon and the son of my late father’s best friend, Jonathan’ s reminder was insightful and emotional.

“So long as there is hope…” – Wonder Woman

So how does an author known for books about history, social justice and sports write a book about science and superheroes? It’s not about what you’re known for. It’s also not about what you’ve done in the past. If you have a great idea, solid research and factchecking skills, excited editors, and willing experts, then dive into what grabs and inspires you. Because if you’re fascinated by the subject, then chances are readers will be too.

 

 

Karen Patkau: A Flower is a Friend

Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s book creators! Today’s guest: Karen Patkau . Take it away, Karen!

This book was a collaboration from the beginning. Ideas for words and images exchanged between friends.

On a warm summer day, as Frieda and I relaxed in her beautiful garden, we noticed birds and insects whizzing and settling among the flowering plants. Frieda showed me a photo she’d taken of a butterfly sipping nectar from a zinnia. It looked like they were kissing.

Together we wondered, “Is there a picture book here?”

The seed of an idea was planted, so to speak. We brainstormed concepts for the book and came up with a list.

It would be nonfiction, featuring a different flower and animal interacting with their environment on each spread. Frieda would write the words. The text would be minimal, lyrical and engaging. I’d do the images. They would be lush and colourful. A spread with an entire flower garden and the animals in it would be featured somewhere. Back matter would provide a sampling of scientific detail, describing the different mutualistic roles.

Frieda prepared the manuscript and I did three sample illustrations, which we pitched as an author/illustrator package. Publishers usually don’t want this kind of submission, unless the author is also the illustrator. However, Frieda and I have worked with many publishers through the years and we thought we’d give it a try. Fortunately, Pajama Press loved our proposal.

So this seed of an idea sprouted and grew. We watered and pruned until it blossomed into A Flower is a Friend.

 

Reviews: 

★“ Beginning with this quietly lovely book’s first spread, blossoms proudly announce themselves in clear, simple prose and describe how they help their friends….The remarkable digital illustrations, so photographically, lusciously lifelike that one can almost smell floral aromas wafting from the pages, call for readers’ close scrutiny….A garden of gorgeous delights.”—Kirkus ★ Starred

“This appealing picture book takes viewers on a close-up tour of a garden….Wishinsky’s age-appropriate text talks of friendships between flowers and animals and uses questions to engage her audience….Patkau’s vibrantly colorful illustrations are eye-catching and helpful. An intriguing picture book on flowers and their friends”—Booklist

“… Follow the little mouse into this delightful picture book that offers valuable scientific insights by arousing, in the earliest readers, a sense of wonder for nature.… the symbiosis between flowers and the small creatures that interact with them is shown in delicate, glowing digitally created images. They are paired with minimal text: a verb and noun that describe the relationship (e.g. kiss a butterfly), and a question (e.g. why do butterflies and zinnias love being together?).… Enjoy both quiet moments with the pictures and the fun of discovery with the text in this thoughtful book. – ***** Highly Recommended – Canadian Materials

Karen Patkau is an award-winning author and illustrator. Her work can be found in twenty -five picture books. Karen graduated from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Honours degree, and became interested in visual storytelling while studying for her Master of Visual Arts degree at the University of Alberta. She has been writing and illustrating with a focus on nature nonfiction for many years. Visit her website at www.karenpatkau.com.

The Marathon Migrations of Arctic Terns

First things first! I’m at Science Rendezvous Kingston today with some friends and fellow science writers. If you’re in the area, come on down! It’s free and suitable for all ages.

In 2014, Tech Support and I were lucky enough to visit Iceland during June, when migratory birds were nesting. We saw puffins and petrels and gulls and guillemots packed onto jagged cliff edges. But what I remember most is walking through the field back to the tour bus and getting dive-bombed by arctic terns who’d built their nests in the long grass flanking the path.

Today is World Migratory Bird Day, making it the perfect day to talk about terns – the champion migrators of the biological world. Adult terns weigh about 100 g, and every year, they make round-trip journeys of up to 50,000 km. 50,000 km, at speeds of up to 670 km per day. 

The “legs” of a tern’s journey are typically different lengths, but for the ease of math, let’s assume they are the same. That’s 25,000 km one-way. The record one-way migration for an adult male humpback whale is 18,840 km. 

Terns can live more than 30 years, meaning one tern might travel more than 2.4 million kilometers during its lifetime. That’s the equivalent of about three trips to the Moon and back. I’m exhausted just thinking about it!

What could possibly motivate such teensy birds to make such epic journeys? Well, terns nest in the Arctic, during summer in the Northern Hemisphere: they’re arriving at their breeding grounds right around now.

Terns molt – shedding old feathers and growing new ones – in Antarctica, during summer in the Southern Hemisphere. In other words, terns never experience winter: they are always in the right place, at the right time, to take advantage of long summer days and mild temperatures.

Migration timing also seems to be linked to periods of peak ocean productivity. Scientists tracking terns with tiny GPS loggers have shown that terns arrive in each staging location right when the most fish and krill are available to eat – important, because those rich food sources give them the energy they need to keep going. When they reach Antarctica, they also tend to hang out on icebergs or the edge of the pack ice. This gives them solid surfaces to rest on, but really easy access to open water for fishing in.

For terns, the benefits of their extreme migrations seem clear. But migration is not without its risks – for terns and many other species. All that travel takes a ton of energy. Birds can get lost or blown off course in bad weather. They have to pass through areas of unsuitable habitat – places without food, or places inhabited with unfamiliar predators. Birds that orient using natural light cues often get confused by the lights of human cities. 

That’s why many migratory bird species are protected under the Migratory Birds Convention Act. You can explore the list of species protected in Canada at this link. Arctic terns are included!

For some ways you can help protect birds this World Migratory Bird Day, check out these lists:

Five Ways You Can Make a Difference for Migratory Birds

Six Ways to Help Migratory Birds

10 Ways to Help Migratory Birds

Arctic terns are one of several migratory birds that appear in Polar: Wildlife at the Ends of the Earth. The book is out now – grab your copy at your favourite indie bookseller, or one of the online retailers below:

Chapters/Indigo

Amazon.com

Amazon.ca

Barnes & Noble

Target

I’m doing a Polar presentation at the Brighton Public Library on May 30, and I’m still booking Polar-themed school visits this spring! Contact me to inquire about dates and rates.

 

 

 

 

Polar Presents: Official Activity Guide and Other Free Resources Around the Web

Happy Book Birthday to Polar: Wildlife at the Ends of the Earth! Get your copy from Amazon Canada or Amazon USA, from Chapters/Indigo, from Barnes & Noble, from Target, or (best of all) from your local independent bookstore!!

The best kind of birthday party is the kind where everyone gets presents: I get to see a book I’m incredibly proud of make its way out into the world, and teachers, parents, librarians, and young readers get free resources.

Polar Presentations

First things first! I’m doing a free Polar presentation with Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants today at 12:30 Eastern. Head over to their YouTube channel to watch. You can also catch the recording on demand. And remember you can always contact me to book a virtual or in-person author visit – I’ve got lots of STEM and writing programs to choose from.

I’ll be in Toronto on May 7 for a group book launch, and in Kingston for Science Rendezvous on May 13. Check my Public Appearances page for all the details on these and other events.

Activity Guide

Next up, the official Polar Activity Guide, which includes indoor activities and outdoor ideas for both summer and winter. You can download the free PDF from Kids Can Press. If you’re headed to Kids Can Press, snag your copy of The Boreal Forest Teachers’ Guide as well.

Polar-Themed Articles and Websites

Alaska’s Sea Ice Completely Melted Earlier Than Ever Before

Arctic Temperatures Warmest in More Than 10,000 Years

Australian Antarctic Program – Wildlife Photo Galleries

Cool Antarctica

High Stakes in the High North

How Do Emperor Penguin Dads Stop Their Eggs from Freezing?

Latest Sea Ice Conditions in Canada

Narwhal FAQ

National Snow and Ice Data Center

Peeking into the Underwater World of Leopard Seals

St. Lawrence Shark Observatory – info on Greenland sharks and other species

Twilight, Dawn, and Dusk – helpful for understanding light conditions in the polar regions!

Woolly Bears in the Mountains

Understanding Climate: Antarctic Sea Ice Extent

Lesson Plans, Activities, and Environmental Activism

Canadian Geographic Educator Resources – Climate Change and Environment

Center for Biological Diversity

Explore: Antarctica

Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants – Livestreamed and recorded presentations by polar experts (and many others!)

J ust for Kids: What’s Climate Change? And What Can I Do?

Million Tree Project – an initiative of Canada’s Science Rendezvous

NASA Climate Kids – What Is Climate Change?

NASA Climate Kids – What We Can Do to Help

Polar Bears International: Take Action

Project Drawdown – The World’s Leading Resource for Climate Solutions

Save Our Polar Habitats!

Trash Hero Kids

Science Books for Adults

For teenagers that want to learn more, or for adults who want more knowledge to help support their children’s learning – here are some of the adult-level books I consulted while researching Polar. Check your local library for borrowing options.

Antarctica: Global Science from a Frozen Continent (2013)  (Walton WH Ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Birds of the World. Cornell Lab of Ornithology (available by subscription online).

Crawford RMM (2013) Tundra-Taiga Biology: Human, Plant, and Animal Survival in the Arctic. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Heinrich B (2006) Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds. New York: Harper Perennial.

Pyenson N (2018) Spying on Whales: The Past, Present, and Future of Earth’s Most Awesome Creatures. New York: Viking.

Wadhams P (2016) A Farewell to Ice: A Report from the Arctic. New York: Allen Lane.

Watson P (2017) Ice Ghosts: The Epic Hunt for the Last Franklin Expedition. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart.

Thank you for helping me celebrate the release of Polar: Wildlife at the Ends of the Earth, my 23rd STEM book for young readers! Want to help Polar reach more readers? Thank you! Here are some ways you can spread the word:

As your school or public library to add Polar to their collectionTell your friends about the bookTell followers on social mediaWrite a book review on Amazon, Goodreads, or your very own website

Don’t forget to check my Public Appearances page for Polar virtual events and live events happening near you! Are you a teacher or librarian? I’m available for author visits in May and June – contact me to secure your spot.  

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work: Cooperative Hunting in Killer Whales

ONE MORE SLEEP UNTIL POLAR, OMG!

Kermit GIF from Kermit GIFs

Now that I’ve got that out of my system, it’s time for more deleted scenes – cool stuff that didn’t make it into the book. 

Polar is about animal adaptations – the behaviours, body parts, and body functions that help animals survive in extreme habitats. Each spread pairs two animal species – one in the Arctic and one in Antarctica – that are using the same adaptation in different ways or in different seasons. But there are some animal species that live in both the Arctic and Antarctica. Arctic terns are one – in their case, the same individual birds occupy both habitats at different times of year.*

Orcas (killer whales) are another. In their case, however, different populations of orcas inhabit each polar sea, and as far as I was able to discover, each population pretty much sticks to its own hemisphere. Because of this isolation, Arctic and Antarctic orcas are genetically distinct. They are also culturally distinct: they speak different dialects and have developed different hunting strategies for taking different types of prey. Senior orcas teach their specialized hunting techniques to the young in their communities, passing their knowledge and experience to the next generation.

This is the coolest thing ever, and I wanted to include a spread contrasting the behaviours of Arctic and Antarctic orcas in the book. But the process of training young orcas can be a bit brutal for the poor prey, and my editor was concerned the hunting scenes might be a bit mature for the book’s target audience. If you fell in love with walruses in my earlier post, you may feel the same way. In that case, I recommend finding a copy of Kilroy and the Gull by Nathaniel Benchley, a book about an orca calf who’s captured and sent to an aquarium, but later escapes with the help of his friend Morris the seagull. I LOVED this book as a kid, and it’s a lot less “nature red in tooth and claw” than this blog is about to get.

BUT. If you think orcas are awesome and everybody’s gotta eat – this post is for you. So here we go: unpolished text from my first draft of Polar: Wildlife at the Ends of the Earth.

Cooperative Hunting and Social Learning

Some predators hunt alone; killer whales prefer to work in teams. Cooperative hunting makes bringing down large prey, like minke whales, both safer and easier. Killer whales live in both Arctic and Antarctic waters. They form long-lasting social groups, allowing adults to teach important hunting strategies to the young. Different groups of whales use different, but equally adaptive, techniques.

Arctic

A dozen walruses float on the Chukchi Sea, unaware of danger until the killer whales charge. Panic! As walruses flee for shore, the whales carousel, cutting one off from the group. Normally, they would kill it quickly and efficiently. But there’s a calf in the pod, and she must learn. When the group finds prey in the vast, ever-changing ocean, she’ll need to know what to do.

Her mother swirls around the walrus, stunning it with her fluke. A cousin darts in, demonstrating the same strike. It’s the calf’s turn, but she misses. The walrus bobs to the surface, and she backs away, making room. Her mother rears up, using the weight of her falling body to push the walrus under. The whale calf isn’t heavy enough to do this, but she will be someday. For now, she pays attention until the lesson ends and it’s time for her entire family to eat.

Antarctica

Ice floes bump and drift. Between them, killer whales spy hop, scouting for seals. There, on the largest floe. The pod swims away, then turns back. Side-by-side, they charge, flukes pumping in sync, building a wave. At the last second, they dive under the floe, rolling to protect their dorsal fins. Their wave breaks beneath the ice, shattering it into pieces. The seal tumbles into the sea.

Splashing and snarling, he tries to climb onto one of the fragments. But these whales are experienced hunters. With her teeth, a young adult grasps the seal’s hind flippers, tugging him into the water. Whales circle as he stands on his head, waving those vulnerable flippers in the air. Then the seal feints, darts, and breaks through the ring of teeth. Struggling, he hauls himself onto a bergy bit**—a rough chunk of glacial ice too heavy for the whales to topple. The pod swims away, searching for easier prey.

*More info on Arctic terns is coming on May 13 – World Migratory Bird Day. Stay tuned!

**Showing my Canadian here – “bergy bit” is an absolutely delightful term that Newfoundlanders use for small chunks of melting icebergs. They are also delicious in cocktails.

Polar: Wildlife At the Ends of the Earth comes out TOMORROW! EEK! Order a copy from your local independent bookstore to reduce your carbon footprint AND support a cornerstone of your community. You can also order from your favourite online retailer.

Don’t forget to check my Public Appearances page for Polar virtual events and live events happening near you. Are you a teacher or librarian? I’m available for author visits in May and June – contact me to secure your spot .  

Party Like a Puffin with Polar: Wildlife at the Ends of the Earth

Two more sleeps until Polar: Wildlife at the Ends of the Earth lands in bookstores! I am so proud of this book and I can’t wait to share it with all of you. Which brings me to today’s topic: events! I’ve got some fun things planned this month, and I hope you’ll be able to join me, either in person or online.

May 2 – (Ant)Arctic Adaptations – A Book Birthday Party 

I am SO EXCITED to be celebrating Polar’s Book Birthday with Exploring By the Seat of Your Pants! You can tune in to this virtual event from anywhere – teachers can even snag an “on camera” spot, which will allow your students to ask me their questions directly. There will be fun facts and amazing stories, and tons of audience participation. If you’ve ever wanted to see me wearing a paper party hat, now’s your chance. The event will be streaming live on YouTube at this link, and it’s free to join.

Click here for all the details.

May 7 – Spring Book Launch – Toronto Public Library

The best way to celebrate spring is with brand new books! Join me – and seven other Canadian kid lit authors – as we launch our new spring titles. Participating authors include:

L. E. CarmichaelHelaine BeckerKate BlairHeather CamlotTziporah CohenCaroline FernandezValerie SherrardLorna Shultz-Nicholson

There will be readings, goodies, and probably a few surprises. Indie children’s bookseller, Mable’s Fables, will be on site – take home an autographed book or two!

Click here for all the details.

May 13 – Science Rendezvous Kingston

What do you get when four award-winning children’s authors combine forces? A tsunami of STEM exploration – complete with actual waves!

Visitors to our booth at Science Rendezvous Kingston will get a behind-the-scenes look at how authors create STEM books out of cutting-edge science. From fractals and Fibonacci spirals, from ocean layers to ocean currents, from fossils to fox teeth, there will be something here for everyone—including storytimes featuring brand new Canadian children’s science books. Signed books will be available for purchase at A Novel Idea.

Science Rendezvous is a national event, but Kingston’s is the biggest and the best. In addition to me, Helaine Becker, Rochelle Strauss, and Ishta Mercurio there will be bees and fossils and at some point, something is bound to explode. Best of all, the entire event is free – bring the whole family!

Click here for all the details.

May 30 – Polar Party at the Brighton Public Library

I’m doing a full Polar presentation at the Brighton Public Library in May. Elementary teachers are bringing their classes, but the event is open to the public, so don’t be shy! We’ll talk about science and writing and there will be plenty of time for questions. Autographed books will be available for purchase at Lighthouse Books, just a few blocks away.

Click here for all the details.

Other Chances to Join the Celebration

More events may be added to my schedule – visit my Public Appearances page for up-to-date info on locations and dates.

And if you’re a teacher or librarian, I’m booking school visits in May and June. Contact me to inquire about dates and rates.

Two more sleeps!

Cache You Later: Leopard Seals and Their Leftovers

Despite what Coca Cola commercials would have you believe, polar bears and penguins have never met. Polar bears are apex predators of the Arctic, while penguins are only found in Antarctica.* That doesn’t mean penguins are safe from predation…

…because leopard seals.

Leopard seals may look cuddly, but don’t be fooled. Females get up to 12 feet long and weigh more than 1100 pounds – quite literally the size of polar bears.** Leopard seals are fierce predators, taking penguins, fur seals, bottom-dwelling ice fish, and pretty much anything else they can get their teeth into. They’re also fiercely competitive, frequently stealing kills from other leopard seals.

Much of what we know about the hunting behaviour of leopard seals comes from studies done by Doug Krause with support from National Geographic. Check out this amazing video featuring footage from “crittercams” mounted on leopard seals:

Krause’s studies also revealed a previously unknown behaviour in leopard seals – caching! Like ermines in the Arctic, leopard seals will kill more prey than they immediately need, storing the excess for later.

While caching seems cruel, it’s an important survival skill for predators whose food supplies vary from year to year, or at different times throughout the year. After all, penguin chicks and fur seal pups are only small and vulnerable for a short time… after which a leopard has to work a lot harder to catch a meal. 

Unlike ermines, who can hide their caches so well not even scientists can find them, leopard caches are often raided by other predators. Here’s a deleted scene from Polar: Wildlife at the Ends of the Earth, that illustrates the challenges:

The leopard seal raided the penguin colony all day, patrolling the floe edge as birds came and went. Breeding season is almost over, and the surplus food it provides will dwindle. The leopard must catch all she can, even if she’s no longer hungry.

The seal swims away from the colony, a carcass in her jaws. Cruising through leads in the pack ice, she looks for a place to store it. Perhaps this crack will do? She wedges the carcass into the gap, but skuas descend instantly, looking for a free meal. The leopard barks and lunges at them, but she’s outnumbered. Pulling the carcass free, she dives to escape the birds, looking for a better larder.

There, under the roots of a grounded iceberg. The seal tucks her prey into the hollow. It starts to float, so she nudges a rock on top to hold it in place. She’s the only leopard seal for miles. The food will be safe here until she returns for it.

She’d better not wait too long – Krause’s studies showed that underwater caches are quickly discovered – and devoured – by ocean scavengers!

Bonus for Teachers and Homeschoolers:

While googling for the video clip this morning, I happened upon a lesson plan National Geographic has assembled for leopard seals. You can find the video and other resources at this link.

 

*And a few other places South of the Equator.

**Also larger than males of their species, which is unusual in mammals!

Polar: Wildlife At the Ends of the Earth comes out in 3 more sleeps! EEK! Pre-order a copy from your local independent bookstore to reduce your carbon footprint AND support a cornerstone of your community. You can also order from your favourite online retailer.

Don’t forget to check my Public Appearances page for Polar virtual events and live events happening near you! Are you a teacher or librarian? I’m available for author visits in May and June – contact me to secure your spot .  

Waving Walruses: Cool Facts that Didn’t Make the Cut

Four more sleeps until Polar: Wildlife at the Ends of the Earth lands in a bookstore near you!

During preliminary research for the book, when I was trying to figure out which adaptations I would cover and which animal from the Arctic would be paired with each animal from the Antarctic, I came across a weird fact about walruses that totally tickled me – until I realized there was no place for it in the book. Fortunately, there is always room for weird facts on this blog! So let’s take a look at feeding behaviours of Atlantic walruses. Specifically, those in Young Sound, off of North East Greenland.

What Do Walruses Eat?

Walruses are benthic feeders, meaning they forage for food on the bottom of the ocean. They love bivalves – molluscs such as clams that have hinged shells – and there are three specific species that they will choose when given the chance. 

Like all marine mammals, walruses breath air, and they can only stay underwater for about 10 minutes before they need to take another breath. So they usually forage in mollusc beds that are between 1-6 m below the surface. Short travel time means they can maximize feeding time before swimming back to the surface.

And it takes a lot of molluscs to feed a walrus. One study found the remains of 6400 molluscs in a single walrus stomach! A male walrus that weighs 1226 kg eats about 74 kg of mollusc tissue per day. They spend 13 to 14 hours out of every 24 searching for food.

How Do Walruses Hunt?

Scuba diving scientists hung out in the water, filming walruses as they fed. The ocean bottom of Young Sound is sandy, and feeding stirred up a lot of sediment, so scientists couldn’t tell exactly how the walruses were getting molluscs out of their shells. But they did get great views of how walruses go about finding prey that can be buried up to 40 cm deep.

And they shared the videos! For copyright reasons I can’t embed them here, but the videos are available online for free. Hop on over to the webpage for the original research article. In the right-hand menu, click on Electronic Supplementary Material. You can download the files and play them on your computer as often as you want.

Speaking of right-hand… but I’m getting ahead of myself.

According to the study, walruses dive to the mollusc bed and settle with “their tusks resting like a sledge on the bottom.” Wear marks caused by dragging their tusks along the sand were clearly visible when the walruses were hauled out on shore! 

Walruses face into the ocean current, so that the moving water pulls stirred-up sand away from their eyes. They appear to be looking for food with their eyes, as well as feeling for it with their whiskers. And they use three strategies for locating tasty niblets:

Using the whiskers on their snouts to feel for buried foodSquirting a water jet from their mouths to blast away sandWaving a flipper over the seabed to sweep away sand

The waving method is the most popular. And – apologies to any human lefties out there – walruses are right-handed! They wave with their right flippers 89% of the time. No single walrus preferred to use its left flipper. Granted, this was a small study of only a handful (ha!) of walruses, so it’s possible the lefties are out there. But either way, the very notion that walruses might have a “hand preference” just as humans do strikes me as just the most delightful thing.

How Is Climate Change Affecting Walruses?

While a little less weird than the handedness fact, this is also really, really interesting. Because it actually depends.

For the North East Greenland walruses, warming climates might be a good thing. That’s because, in the winter, the shallow water where walruses feed is actually frozen right to the ocean floor. This “fast ice” forces the walruses to winter on offshore sea ice, where the ocean bottom can be as much as 200 m down. Longer travel times mean less time to feed at the bottom before running out of air.

Right now, the coastal feeding grounds are available to walruses between the end of July and October, when the water re-freezes. Climate change means that the open-water period is getting longer, and open water seems to be good for food production in the area. So it’s possible that the North East Greenland walruses, a small population that currently numbers about 1000, might actually increase – at least for a while.

It’s a different story for Pacific walruses, like those shown it the picture. Female walruses raise their young near the edge of the summer sea ice, which used to give them a place to rest with good access to shallow water feeding grounds. In recent years, however, there’s been more summer melting, meaning that the ice edge is retreating farther from shore. That puts the mamas over deeper water, making it harder for them to find food for themselves and for making milk for their young. For walruses in this type of habitat, loss of summer sea ice could become a major threat.

If you want to led the walruses a helping hand (I’m sorry, the puns, they write themselves), stay tuned. On May 2 – release day! – I’ll be posting a resource list that includes information on climate change and ways that we can help. In the meantime, keep doing all the things you are already doing to make our world a better place for humans and for polar wildlife.

Polar: Wildlife At the Ends of the Earth comes out in 4 more sleeps! EEK! Pre-order a copy from your local independent bookstore to reduce your carbon footprint AND support a cornerstone of your community.

Don’t forget to check my Public Appearances page for Polar virtual events and live events happening near you! Are you a teacher or librarian? I’m available for author visits in May and June – contact me to secure your spot.  

 

Ermines: Serial Killers or Survival Experts?

Predator-prey relationships are a natural part of nature – unfortunate for the prey, but necessary at the scale of ecosystems. As a scientist who studied carnivores, I sometimes forget that I was also a kid who sobbed whenever a fictional fur-bearer died. 

This is why writers need editors – they remind us that not every eight-year-old is emotionally equipped for “nature red in tooth and claw.” And then they make us take that scene out of the book!

So consider this your content warning: today’s post is about murder weasels.

“Murder weasels” is not their real name, of course – in North America, we call them ermines, while in Europe they’re often called stoats. And all members of the weasel family are pretty murdery – wolverines will face down wolf packs to protect a kill, and fishers hunt porcupines by biting their faces until they bleed to death. But not every member of the weasel family does the murder while being. So. Darn. Cute.

I mean, just look at that adorable little serial killer. There is a reason humans keep pet ferrets, after all.

But back to the science…

Just how murdery does an ermine get? Here’s a deleted scene from the first draft of Polar: Wildlife at the Ends of the Earth:

The ermine undulates though the spaces beneath the snow, scenting for lemmings. Even here, beneath a drift 1.4 m deep, cool air sucks the heat from her long, thin body. She needs at least 1/4 of her weight in food each day, just to keep warm and keep going. And she is pregnant. Unless she finds food soon, the babies in her belly will starve before they’re even born.

Here’s another lemming nest, but like the others she’s found this winter, it’s abandoned. All is not lost, though, because the little ermine planned ahead. She bounds back through the tunnels towards last year’s den. In the summer, when the hunting was good, she stashed 153 lemmings in a cavity beneath the rocks. The entrance to her cache is narrow, so foxes couldn’t raid it, and the permafrost kept the meat cool and fresh. The ermine withdraws a morsel from her icebox, curls up in her fur-lined nest, and begins to eat.

 

153 lemmings killed and stored for later. 153!!!

Dr. Benoît Sittler studies wildlife in Greenland, where ermine are found as far north as 83 degrees latitude. He tells me that ermine caches are hard for scientists to find, but several at least as large as this one have been discovered. Though the scale of the slaughter seems excessive, caching is an essential adaptation. In Greenland – and throughout the Arctic – lemming populations boom to huge numbers before crashing into scarcity. Caching is a predator’s insurance policy – by storing excess prey during booms, they guarantee they’ll have something to eat when live lemmings are scarce on the ground. The adaptation is especially important for small animals – like ermines – that can’t store much body fat against the lean times.

There’s one aspect of the ermine’s behaviour that makes these murder weasels seem particularly ruthless. They run through tunnels under snowbanks, seeking out lemmings that have nested in shelter under the snow. They eat the lemmings, and then nest in the fur they’ve pulled off their victims. Which, on the one hand, yikes. On the other, this is also a highly practical survival strategy. While ermines’ white winter fur provides excellent camouflage against snow, it’s not much warmer than their brown summer coats. Lemming nests – and lemming fur – provide a little extra insulation during frigid polar winters.

What do you think? Are ermines serial killers or survival experts? I’d love to hear from you.

Five more sleeps until Polar: Wildlife at the Ends of the Earth hits bookstore shelves! Pre-order a copy from your local independent bookstore to reduce your carbon footprint AND support a cornerstone of your community. You can also order from your favourite online retailers.

Don’t forget to check my Public Appearances page for Polar virtual events and live events happening near you! Are you a teacher or librarian? I’m available for author visits in May and June – contact me to secure your spot.