BEIJING, Oct. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- Record low Arctic sea ice, coupled with warming temperature are the likely reason thousands of walruses have swarmed ashore on Alaska's northwest shore, perhaps forcing them to expend more energy to swim farther to feed.

Joel Garlich-Miller, a walrus expert with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services in Anchorage, Alaska, said animals began showing up on shore in late July, a month earlier than usual. By August, several thousand animals ─ far more than normal ─ had congregated in a few areas from Barrow, America's northernmost community, to Cape Lisburne, about 300 miles to the southwest on the Chukchi Sea.

"It's raising a bunch of conservation issues for us," Garlich-Miller said.

But having animals concentrated on land instead of the vast expanse of the Arctic ice pack also raises stress issues, said Chad Jay, a U.S. Geological Survey biologist.

Researchers would expect increased mortality to calves, Jay said, if they try to stay with their mothers during feeding rather than resting on a platform of sea ice over feeding grounds.

"You can imagine access to traditional foraging areas is diminished," Garlich-Miller said. "That is cause for concern."

The agency has received anecdotal information from hunters that some animals appear thin but not emaciated or endangered, Garlich-Miller said. As has happened in the last few years, the agency has received reports of orphan calves.

The Alaska shore haulouts are following a trend of animals on the other side of the Chukchi Sea, said Jay and Garlich-Miller. Russian research observers have seen dramatic increases of animals on shore, sometimes numbering in the tens of thousands and now including females with young.

(Agencies)