Bear Necessities
Genesis 8:22
“While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”
A recent science article in the UK’s Telegraph newspaper suggested that grizzly bears may have dropped their carnivorous ways in favor of a life of eating berries. Apparently, the streams and rivers on Alaska’s Kodiak Island are replete with salmon. Normally, 75% of these salmon are killed by grizzlies, but in recent years, the salmon have remained untouched, while bears stay in the hills eating elderberries. This change in behavior, which is billed as a form of evolution, is said to have occurred because elderberries are said to be ripening earlier every year. The normal diet of the grizzly bear would involve eating salmon at the end of summer and early fall, followed by gorging on the high-energy berries in order to fatten up for the winter hibernation. But the berries are ripening early, so the bears are missing out on the salmon in order to consume high energy berries. The Telegraph’s article thinks that it knows the culprit for this situation, which it sees as problematic. Early berry ripening has been caused by our old friend climate change.
Apparently, this will affect the ecosystems of the rivers. Bears do not consume the whole salmon. The discarded carcasses rot and enrich the soil in the riparian region. Worried scientists suggest that bears will have completely given up on salmon by 2070.
There has, of course, been frequent warming and cooling of environments before. More to the point, the Bible reminds us that “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:22)
Prayer: Thank You, Father, that we can rely on You, even in the midst of weather turmoil. Amen.
Author: Paul F. Taylor
Ref: Grizzly bears go vegetarian due to climate change, choosing berries over salmon, < http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/25/grizzly- bears-go-vegetarian-due-climate-change-choosing-berries/.
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