Pollution Punishes Polar Bear Penises

[darnkatz]

  Now I've really heard it all.

Pollution punishes polar bear penises
by

Renee Lewis

The existential threat climate change poses
to polar bears has long been a concern, but now scientists have yet
more worrying news for the Arctic predator. A new study has put into
focus the potential damage that a chemical pollutant is having on their,
um, bear necessities. More to the point, it could be making penises
more fragile.


Researchers have already said that polychlorinated biphenyls, or
PCBs, could become concentrated in the Polar Regions due to a process
called global distillation — under which chemicals are transported from
warmer to colder parts of the globe.


It is also known that the chemical attacks vital organs and tissues, like bone.


Which is bad news for Polar bears, who have a penile bone,
or baculum, as it is known. A weaker baculum could be easily fractured
or broken, threatening successful mating in an already at-risk species,
researchers said.


Christian Sonne at Aarhus University, Denmark, and his team theorized
that this chemical, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), could have a
serious impact on the species’ survival. 


The study, “Penile Density and Globally used Chemicals in Canadian and Greenland Polar Bears,” documents their investigation into the theory. 


The scientists looked at baculum strength in eight polar bear populations. They were able to gather samples easily because hunters in the region often take penis bones as proof that they had killed a polar bear, New Scientist reported. 


Researchers found that bears in areas with the highest concentration
of PCBs had the most fragile penis bones — seemingly corroborating the
theory.


PCBs have been banned since 2001, but it takes time to break down
once it is in the environment. There may be a happy ending for polar
bears, however. When the chemical’s concentration does finally ebb, it
is likely that polar bears' penises will again strengthen.