Climate Change and Extinction

Climate change causing the melting of the polar ice caps is leading native fauna into extinction. Is global warming the driving force behind this? According to a proposal released by the Bush administration the Arctic has been shifting from its natural cycle demonstrated over the past 800,000 years displaying significant melt. Unfortunately this ice is an "essential" part of arctic natives, such as the polar bear, and is necessary for their survival. It was recently announced that the polar bear's status further dropped on the endangered species list from "threatened" to the more serious label "endangered." The IUCN Red List defines "threatened" as any species vulnerable to extinction in the near future. Biologiests have reported that the mammal "Ursus" will be "the first large mammal to fall victim to global warming."