Walrues‏

In 1990, biologists counted 201,039 walruses in the Arctic Ocean. Now, almost 20 years later, there seem to be fewer. After three years of counting, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that there are only 15,164 walruses in the area. But, scientists say, they're not finished counting.
"We're still working on the final population estimate," said Suzann Speckman. She is a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Endangered Species?
What's a possible reason for the lower walrus count? Brendan Cummings, a spokesperson for the Center for Biological Diversity, thinks many walruses are dying. He believes global warming is melting the ice in the waters between Alaska and Russia. That's the area where most walruses live. The chubby mammals with the big tusks use the ice to dive and hunt from.
But other scientists aren't so sure that the walruses are dying out. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Doug Burn said, "We realized we were missing a lot of walrus groups." So the walrus count goes on. The counting hasn't been easy. Scientists sometimes have to guess the number of walruses that are underwater. And some technical problems made counting more difficult. A method that counts the mammals using body heat did not work. It delayed the operation by a whole year.
U.S. law requires scientists to count the walruses every three years. Then, if the mammals turn out to be an endangered species, they will be counted every year. As the current count goes on, it will become clearer to scientists just how the walrus is doing in the wild.


Michael-The walruses are endangered species because of the global warming. The ice between Russia and Alaska is melting. The walruses live on the ice. So when the ices are melting their living area become less. Endangered species are the animals that are in danger. We need to help them. Scientist will count the endangered species every year.