White-furred animals are in danger of dying out because climate change is causing a fall in snow cover, leaving them exposed and vulnerable, a new study suggests.
一项新研究指出，白毛动物正面临灭绝的危险，因为气候变化导致冰雪覆盖范围减少，从而让白毛动物难以藏身、易受攻击。
Scientists in Poland have been following the worrying case of the white-coated weasel, which sheds its tawny 1 covering in the winter for a milky 2 coat allowing it to blend effortlessly into its icy environment.
But researchers have discovered that between 1997 and 2007 the number of days with permanent snow cover in Biał owież a Forest, Poland, halved 3, from 80 to 40.
It means that the little creatures are being caught out in a completely unsuitable environment, where they are easy prey 4 for predators 5 like foxes and crows.
The team at the Polish Academy of Sciences found that on days when there was little winter snow cover, the number of white-coated weasels they managed to capture fell to as low as 20 percent of the total, suggesting the rest had been killed.
Previously 6 they would have been dominant 7, because their coats would have given them a survival advantage.
The problem is likely to affect other white-furred mammals and birds living in areas vulnerable to climate change such as the Arctic fox as the snow cover increasingly gives way to a landscape of greens and browns.
