Alaska’s Cook Inlet was home to nearly 1,300 beluga whales in the late 1970s, but today the population hovers around 300. Despite almost two decades of recovery work, the whales aren’t bouncing back. The Cook Inlet belugas are likely struggling under multiple pressures, including increasing human noise. Researchers are working on deciphering whale-whale communication to better account for […]
Today’s Arctic may feel remote and desolate, but more than 70 million years ago, it was a surprisingly lively place for some of Earth’s ancient mammals. In a new study published May 18 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), University of Colorado Boulder researchers and collaborators describe three previously unknown species […]
Note: Adapted from a University of Colorado Boulder news release by Yvaine Ye. More than 70 million years ago, the Arctic was a lively place for some of Earth’s ancient mammals. Today, their fossil teeth are offering clues about where they came from and how they outlived the dinosaurs. In a new study published […]
When rain falls on snow in the Arctic, ice layers can form on top of and within the snowpack. This increasingly common dynamic can influence the ability of animals, including caribou and muskoxen, to forage and move across the landscape. That, in turn, affects the people who rely on wildlife for subsistence, culture, wellbeing and income. Given the widespread impacts of rain-on-snow events, Colorado State University researchers are studying and modeling their effects in Arctic systems. The work is especially important considering the rapid rate of climate change across the region, said Stine […]