2006-08-09 06:16:04 · 11 answers · asked by cbmaclean 4 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
All good answers, but Polar bears do not live everywhere in the far north...would they survive and adapt to a new area? I am aware they do get lost sometimes and get on iceflowes all the way to Brazil...but could they establish a new colony in the north? by the way, there are lots of penguins there, and many specis, so 1000 would just put a small dent in the population...I want to hear from people of science now and hear the "what if" scenerio.
2006-08-09 06:50:42 · update #1
Hopefully, BEETle is wrong, but he probably right....I wonder if relocating species to save them might work....not that penguins are an endangered species...
2006-08-09 07:12:25 · update #2
My comic answer is there would be a marked increase in obese Polar Bears.
My reality answer is as long as food sources remain the same, they would adapt quiet well as they can of course handle frigid temperatures because of their super insulated tuxedo suits.
Darryl S.
2006-08-09 06:32:25 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Arctic Puffin and related birds are said to be penguin equivalents, but Puffins have had to remain smaller and retain their ability to fly because the survival pressure is far greater in the north as compared to the south. Penguins are essentially the bird equivalent of seals, and if so, there have been many other cases where birds have attempted to evolve into the same ecological niches as placental mammals, but the mammals invariably win out. The New Zealand Moa was the bird equivalent of a giraffe, but I don't think they would have survived the combined competition from real giraffes plus the predation from lions and hyenas and leopards and the like in Africa the way real giraffes can. There was a South American "Terror bird" that was a bird equivalent of a lion or perhaps closer to a T. Rex or Velociraptor, but it lost out to real cats when North and South America joined at Panama. However, as long as birds retain their ability to fly, they do OK in today's world, as ducks and geese compete well against otters and minks and beavers, and eagles and hawks do well against foxes and badgers, and robins and cardinals do well against rats and field mice, and even ostriches are not extinct, but I really don't see how they are able to make it in Africa(?) But the fact is, placental mammals rule the ecology of today, as they have since the great K/T extinction. Birds just don't have what it takes, any more, and the same would likely happen if we brought back the dinosaurs. (Brontosaurus otherwise known as Apatasaurus might survive since it bore its young alive, and even lions know enough to not attack elephants, so they probably would leave brontosaurus alone as well.) It is fun to think about these things, though.
2006-08-09 20:32:38 · answer #2 · answered by Sciencenut 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
aThey would all die off, or at least will never be able to reproduce. Their breeding season is very strict in the south, they follow a very thurough schedule. If they were to go to the opposite pole of the earth, everythign would be reversed and they would not be able to adapt.
Much of their feeding is timed with the migrations of various fish species a s well, these would not occur in the north and they would die.
So, you cannot take soemthing from the south and bring it north, just because their life cycles and behaviours would no longer correspond.
Just to add a comment, the answers about them swimming back is not true, they follow the antarctic currents up along the west coast of south America, that is why they are found there. they are very powerful swimmers and would not be influenced by current like that.
hope this answers your question!
2006-08-09 13:55:00 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You would have 1000 less penguins in the south and 1000 happy polar bears in the north. Hear in Canada we eat defenseless flightless birds.
2006-08-09 13:21:54 · answer #4 · answered by Barry M 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They would start walking/swimming back to the artic. Every year some penguins get caught in the tides and get carried by the waves to a place near Brazil. They then try to swim back, and most would die, untill Brazil's govt started using the navy to transport them back. So taking them to Canada would be just like that.
2006-08-09 13:31:47 · answer #5 · answered by Daniel M 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Polar bear food.
2006-08-09 13:19:39 · answer #6 · answered by loon_mallet_wielder 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They would have to learn to speak French and drink Tim Horton's coffee.
2006-08-09 18:44:29 · answer #7 · answered by stevewbcanada 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
South pole would look further deserted.
2006-08-09 13:20:24 · answer #8 · answered by somu98 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
runnin penguins
2006-08-09 13:20:09 · answer #9 · answered by snipe_photographer 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they would probably have a very good vacation!!!!
2006-08-11 02:05:37 · answer #10 · answered by lucifer 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋