Hard to take climate change seriously when scientists claim snakes and lizards are eating eggs in the far north shores
Arctic 'no safe harbour' for breeding birds
Arctic 'no safe harbour' for breeding birds
Shore birds breed on the ground; their eggs and offspring are exposed, where they can fall prey to predators such as snakes, lizards and foxes.
The researchers looked at data collected over 70 years for more than 38,000 nests of 200 bird species, including 111 shore birds, in 149 locations on all continents.
Dr Vojtěch Kubelka of the Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, and co-researcher of the study said: "The Arctic, with recently elevated rates of nest predation, is no longer a safe harbour for breeding birds: on the contrary, the Arctic now represents an extensive ecological trap for migrating shorebirds from a nest predation perspective."
The research is published in the journal Science.