(click on the picture for an enlarged view)

The small black dot in the lower center of the iceberg is a seal who has "hauled out" of the water and onto the ice to give birth to its pup in a location safe from  predatory polar bears.  Recently, instead of twelve to fifteen feet of ice depth, the polar ice cap has averaged about three to four feet.  Ice this thin will not last long enough nor float stably enough to allow seals to give birth.  This has resulted in a reduction in the seal population and the inability of Inuit people to continue a traditional lifestyle.