As climate change erodes the icy habitats of polar bears, they are left stranded from their usual food sources for longer periods of time. So instead of filling up on seals, a new study has found that polar bears are supplementing their diets with garbage, which is expected to become a growing threat to the […]
Tag: polar bears
With sea ice melting, glacial ice could be a lifeline for polar bears
When Kristin Laidre began working on a long-term project to study polar bears in eastern Greenland, she didn’t expect to find a new subpopulation of the species — and she certainly didn’t expect to find the most genetically isolated polar bears on the planet. There are 19 recognized subpopulations of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) living […]
Polar Bears Found Surviving in Greenland Despite Lack of Sea Ice
Few animals represent the face of the Arctic like polar bears. The largest bears in the world, polar bears are excellent swimmers who spend more time in the sea than they do on land. Sea ice is the platform from which they hunt the seals needed to obtain the necessary calories to survive. Now, scientists […]
3 Oil Companies Pull Out of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
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 […]
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 […]