Polar bears face starvation due to melting of Arctic ice sheets - scientists

New research has shown that polar bears are at risk of starvation as periods without ice in the Arctic increase as a result of global warming.

The study, published in the scientific journal Nature Communications, used GPS video camera collars to track polar bears' movements for three-week periods over three years in Canada's Hudson Bay, the inland marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean.

Between 1979 and 2015, ice-free periods lengthened by three weeks, forcing bears to come ashore for approximately 130 days in the last decade.

When the ice melts, polar bears come ashore, where they either look for other food sources or rely on fat storage until the ice freezes again.

"Polar bears are creative, they're resourceful, you know, they'll look in the landscape for ways to try to survive and find food resources to offset their energy needs if they're motivated," Anthony Pagano, a wildlife research biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and lead author of the study, told AFP.

However, as the new analysis shows, the bears' ability to adapt to new conditions is not a guarantee of survival.

"Although polar bears show remarkable behavioral plasticity on land, our findings increase the risk of starvation, especially in subadults, with a predicted increase during the period on land," the study says.

The Arctic is warming twice as fast as anywhere else on the planet, reducing sea ice cover by 14% per decade. Compared to the average sea ice area recorded between 1981 and 2010, the region lost about 770,000 square miles between 2011 and 2021, more than Alaska and California combined.

As bears go longer without food, their health deteriorates. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), each week that the ice breaks up in Hudson Bay, bears come ashore about 22 pounds (about 10 kg) lighter and in poorer health.

Even those that survive the famine will suffer from severe malnutrition, especially females with cubs. Unhealthy bears can lead to reduced breeding rates and extinction in certain areas. Scientists have found that the main cause of cub death is either a lack of food or a lack of fat in nursing mothers.

Earlier, TravelWise reported that Ukrainian polar explorers showed "Barbie"-landscapes in Antarctica.