2 from U.Va. warn of what global warming could mean to animals

By REX SPRINGSTON
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

The polar bear has become the furry face of climate change in the Arctic.

The bear is deserving, but other animals -- particularly the walrus and a living sausage called the ribbon seal -- are in even worse peril, a University of Virginia researcher says.

"Polar bears are very familiar to people," said G. Carleton Ray, "but actually they are not as endangered as these seals and walruses."