Published9 minutes ago
Some polar bears face starvation as the Arctic sea ice melts because they are unable to adapt their diets to living on land, scientists have found.
The iconic Arctic species normally feed on ringed seals that they catch on ice floes offshore.
But as the ice disappears in a warming world, many bears are spending greater amounts of time on shore, eating bird’s eggs, berries and grass.
However the animals rapidly lose weight on land, increasing the risk of death.
The polar bear has become the poster child for the growing threat of climate change in the Arctic, but the reality of the impact on this species is complicated.
While the number of bears plummeted up to the 1980s this was mainly due to unsustainable hunting.
With greater legal protection, polar bear numbers have risen. But increasing global temperatures are now seen as their biggest threat.
That’s because the frozen Arctic seas are key to their survival.
The animals use the sea ice as a platform to hunt ringed seals, which have high concentrations of fat, mostly in late spring and early summer.
But during the warmer months many parts of the Arctic are now increasingly ice-free.
In Western Manitoba where this study was carried out, the ice-free period has increased by
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