Are Warming Arctic
Temperatures Spawning New Hybrid Whales?
By Ria Misra
As Arctic temperatures rise and the ice melts, animals that
once had separate migration patterns are suddenly encountering each other — and
that could lead to some new animal hybrids. Tim McDonnell over at Nautilus has written a piece about just what
the increased interaction between Arctic species could mean. Sometimes it's as
simple as increased competition for food or for space, but it can also mean the
possibility of new hybrid animals. Incidences of "grolar" — or polar/grizzly hybrid — bears are already pretty well
documented, and scientists are also looking into the possibility that a
bowhead/right whale hybrid has recently been spotted. But, those two hybrids
could be just the tip of the proverbial (and rapidly melting) iceberg. Polar
biologists have been looking at other species that could also produce hybrids,
including a variety of whale and seal species — and these new hybrids could
have serious implications for the survival of those species:
Why is this
important? What if cryptids are hybrids
as a result of ice ages and global warming in the past? Things like the fact that
jungles in central Africa were grass plains approximately 10,000 years could have
changed the way some animals lived and evolved .
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