Which of these species does not live in the Arctic’s Bering Strait?

Climate change is making the Arctic increasingly navigable by water and commercial shipping in the region is growing. Unregulated and unsafe shipping can harm marine wildlife and impact ocean access that Arctic Indigenous Peoples depend on.

Alaska’s Bering Strait region is a vital wildlife migratory corridor and the only access to the Arctic from the Pacific Ocean. Several species of whales (including bowhead whales), porpoises, dolphins, seabirds such as auklets, seals, walrus, and polar bears (in winter) all navigate through the Bering Strait. Chinstrap penguins live far away—in and around Antarctica.

However, as the Arctic warms, the Strait’s narrow waterway creates a perfect storm for conflict between industry, wildlife, and local peoples as industry use grows and the Strait becomes a traffic bottleneck.

WWF is addressing this up-and-coming threat through Arctic Watch, a collaborative initiative working to support safe shipping and safeguard people, wildlife and the environment by improving and increasing the exchange of real time and dynamic information.

Find out how WWF is trying to make the Bering Strait safer for wildlife and people.