UCSB Geography Logo

 

 

The Wildlife Photo of Year Tells Climate Change Tale


The following Climate Central article was written by Brian Kahn and posted October 14th with the title above:

This year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest winners were officially announced on Wednesday. All the images are stunning displays of the natural world, but this year’s winner also has a climate change tale to tell.

The image, titled “A Tale of Two Foxes,” was taken by amateur photographer Dan Gutoski on the tundra of Wapusk National Park located in the far northeast corner of Manitoba. It shows a red fox with the carcass of an Arctic fox it had killed. To capture the photo, Gutoski spent three hours in -22°F weather waiting for the red fox to finally carry the carcass to another location for storage.

The stunning image also shows one of the impacts of climate change. Red foxes are invading the range of Arctic foxes as the temperature warms, putting the two foxes in direct competition for resources. Red foxes are larger and can outcompete Arctic foxes for limited resources. Declining snowpack also makes the Arctic fox’s white coat less of an asset when hunting, particularly in fall and spring, while changing plant cover on the tundra is furthering altering prime Arctic fox habitat.

According to London’s Natural History Museum — which developed and produced the contest — there have been few actual documented cases of red foxes preying on Arctic foxes, but rising temperatures and shifting habitats mean it’s likely that conflicts between the two mammals will become more common.

This year, organizers received 42,000 entries from professsional and amateur photographers alike. While Gutoski’s photograph won photo of the year, the other category winners are equally deserving of your attention.

Image 1 for article titled "The Wildlife Photo of Year Tells Climate Change Tale"
The Wildlife Photograph of the Year winner, showing a red fox with the carcass of an Arctic fox it killed in Wapusk National Park, Manitoba, Canada. Credit: Dan Gutoski/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2015. “From a distance, Don could see that the red fox was chasing something across the snow. As he got closer, he realised the prey, now dead, was an Arctic fox. For three hours in temperatures of -30 degrees Centigrade Don stayed at the scene, until the red fox, finally sated, picked up the eviscerated carcass and dragged it away to store for later. In the Canadian tundra, global warming is extending the range of red foxes northwards, where they increasingly cross paths with their smaller relatives, the Arctic fox. For Arctic foxes, red foxes now represent not just their main competitor – both hunt small animals such as lemmings – but also their main predator. Few actual kills by red foxes have been witnessed so far, but it is likely that conflicts between the two mammals will become more common.”

Please follow and like us:
error
fb-share-icon
Tweet
fb-share-icon