As the climate continues to warm, some species are learning to adapt and shifting their usual prior feeding and mating ground. In the Rockies, for example, the yellow-bellied marmot, a distant cousin of our eastern squirrel are nesting further north, closer to Canada. These furry rodents are much larger than squirrels, growing to around 10 pounds, and live in harems of one male to at least four to five females in a burrow.
California sea lions are now seen off the Alaska coast where the water is cooler than in southern California where they used to live. And birds seem to be changing their nesting times. We certainly saw Robins in late February in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Whether these adaptations will be sufficient to save threatened species will not be known for some time, to be sure, but it certainly seems they have more sense than the human beings who keeping warming up the planet willy-nilly. The problem is, of course, that birds, seals and yellow-bellied marmots are not in charge.
Prayer for the Day
Praying here, O Lord, we see creatures you have made,
Scurrying about, in and out of burrows;
The earth seems so vast before us, extending beyond our sight,
But we know the way we are living causes hurt to all.
Spur us, O Lord, into action so Mother Earth no longer suffers,
But is restored as she should be.
In the name of the One who points the ay,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
They [sea lions] have been able to overcome the challenges associated with climate change so far, but there is a point when that will not be possible to achieve anymore.
- Ana Valenzuela-Toro, Ecology and Evolutionary Biologist, UC Santa Cruz
The current drivers of where species live in the world are different for each … so as the world changes, how species respond or if they can respond is going to be different too
- Aviva Rossi, University of San Francisco
Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments.
Before I was humbled I went atray, but now I keep your word.
You are good and do good; teach me your statutes.
The arrogant smear me with lies, but with my whole heaert I keep your precepts.
Psalm 119: 66-69