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Sunday, November 22, 2009

Photo: Hungry Musk-Oxen, Caribou Could Help Warming Arctic


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Musk-oxen (above, in Alaska) and other large grazers in the Arctic could help guard against climate change by feasting on woody shrubs and plants that would otherwise take over as temperatures rise, says a study released in August 2008.

If shrubs dominated, they would darken Arctic lands and absorb more heat from the sun, enhancing warming due to greenhouse gases, experts say.

Photograph by Alaska Stock Images