Three oil companies have canceled their leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Drilling in the refuge has long been a controversial issue, as the 19.5-million-acre wilderness area is home to 45 species of mammals including polar bears, bowhead whales and caribou and considered sacred by the Indigenous Gwich’in people, according to the Gwich’in Steering […]
Tag: polar bears
Researchers study polar bear poop to learn how chemicals are trapped in the body
A new University of Toronto study is using polar bear scat to reveal how certain chemical contaminants can become trapped—and build up—inside the body. Polar bears are prone to storing certain contaminants in their bodies because they are at the top of the food chain, have a very fatty diet and have evolved to absorb […]
‘Poorly conceived’ trophy hunting bill puts wildlife at risk, UK government told
A proposed UK ban on trophy hunting imports risks undermining the conservation of rhinos, elephants and other endangered wildlife, according to a group of leading scientists and conservationists who said African perspectives have been ignored by the government. On Friday, MPs will vote on a private member’s bill to ban trophy hunting imports while, separately, […]
Polar bears eating reindeer: normal behaviour or result of climate change?
Recently, scientists in Hornsund, Svalbard – a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic ocean – witnessed a polar bear pursuing a reindeer into the sea before killing it, dragging it ashore and eating it. The video that they captured was widely shared on news and social media platforms. Then, two days later, they saw the same […]
‘No easy fix’: polar bear capital of the world turns to electric buggies to save the bears
When tourists reach the north Canadian community of Churchill they have long been greeted by two sounds: the howling of sub-Arctic winds and the rattle of diesel engines. Over the years, hundreds of thousands of visitors have come to the “polar bear capital of the world”, in the hopes of spotting the predators. They journey […]
Trophy hunters face seven years’ jail as stars urge support for new law
Hunters smuggling in big game trophies face seven years’ jail under a planned new law. And all owners of hunting trophies – such as lion skins, tusks, antlers, heads and other macabre souvenirs – would have to register or face jail. The changes, proposed in a Bill, come after legislation promised by PM Boris Johnson […]
Keep polar bears and their extensive range safe from oil drilling
Americans love their polar bears. The largest land carnivores in the world, these massive, powerful beasts are fierce, fearless and very much threatened. It’s the threatened aspect of their story that makes our hearts go out to them, especially as they struggle to survive in a rapidly warming arctic. The Southern Beaufort Sea population of […]
Ice Loss Forces Polar Bears to Inbreed
A recent study found that 10% of polar bear diversity has been lost between 1995 to 2016. Scientists analyzed two generations of bears around the time of the rapid ice loss in the Barents sea. They observed that the leading cause of the decline in genetic diversity was primarily climate change, as it had detrimental […]