Polar Bears Are Starving; Scientists Blame Missing Polar Ice

The polar bear habitat is breaking up, literally. Polar bear numbers are declining because climate change is shattering their habitat.

Polar bears live in harsh, frigid climates like the arctic. This has always worked for them in the past, but climate change is posing a threat to their survival. With increasing global climate, ice sheets in cold places such as the arctic are melting and dispersing. Typically, polar bears utilize ice sheets to capture prey like seals because seals move slow on these surfaces. In contrast, polar bears are slow in water and fast on ice, so ice sheets are very convenient for hunting. Now, polar bears are starving due to melting, cracking and disappearance of ice sheets as food sources are harder to find and capture.

Given the circumstances, it will be near impossible for the polar bears to adapt. They have lived in these habitats for a long time, so it would be difficult for them to find new locations to live. It would also be hard for the bears to adapt to new sources of food and repopulate with nothing to eat. With all this happening, the population of polar bears has gone down by 66% since the 1990s.

The shrinking sea ice is leading the polar bears to wander into human territory. On Halloween 2013 in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, a woman was carried off by a polar bear while leaving a party. Luckily, a nearby neighbor hit the bear’s head with a shovel, an action which saved her life. Bear sightings were always common in places like Churchill, and because of all of the bear sightings, Churchill was nicknamed the Polar Bear Capital of the World. Now, due to the polar bear's shrinking habitat, bear sightings are more common than ever.

Despite polar bears' current struggle, conservators for the Polar Bears International are working on helping their populations in the future. Conservationists are attempting to provide food for the bears in their makeshift habitat. They hope polar bears will stay away from human settlements and will thrive on their own.

[Source: Smithsonian ]

I feel bad for polar bears because, They have to suffer for our mistakes. – jeremiah , wright middle school (2022-04-07 14:14)
It's sad to see how polar bears are getting effected because of humans. Great job on spreading awareness on this issue. – Devika , Memorial High School (2022-04-07 14:26)
Nice work, Jules. This is tragic to read, so thank you for covering this depressing matter. Keep it up! – Leilani , Madison College (2022-04-07 14:37)
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