Hungry reindeer in Svalbard began to eat seaweed due to climate change

In the Svalbard archipelago live at least 2 thousand reindeer. This winter, about 30% of the population - `up to 700 pieces -

constantly grazed on the shore, eating seaweed. Moreover, the algae themselves are not very high in calories and cause diarrhea in animals.

“They walk back and forth between the coast and several ice-free vegetation areas every day. They have to combine any possible food in order to survive. ”

Braid Bremset, biologist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Researchers point out that deer are practically nottrying to walk across the ice between the islands and just walk along the shore in search of food. Despite this, an attempt to adapt animals to new weather conditions, when the Arctic warms up three times faster than the rest of the world, is more likely a positive fact, scientists believe.

Sidebar

Now the average weight of an adult reindeer is 48 kg - this is 20 kg less than it should be ideally, and 7 less than the figure of the beginning of the 2000s.