Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The polar bear ( Ursus maritimus) is a large bear native to the Arctic and nearby areas. It is closely related to the brown bear, and the two species can interbreed. The polar bear is the largest extant species of bear and land carnivore, with adult males weighing 300–800 kg (660–1,760 lb). The species is sexually dimorphic, as adult ...
The key danger for polar bears posed by the effects of climate change is malnutrition or starvation due to habitat loss.Polar bears hunt seals from a platform of sea ice. Rising temperatures cause the sea ice to melt earlier in the year, driving the bears to shore before they have built sufficient fat reserves to survive the period of scarce food in the late summer and early fall.
As a result, the diet is less nutritional, which leads to reduced body size and reproduction, thus indicating population decline in polar bears. The Arctic refuge is where polar bears main habitat is to den and the melting arctic sea ice is causing a loss of species. There are only about 900 bears in the Arctic refuge national conservation area.
An isolated group of polar bears living in southeast Greenland has surprised scientists with its ability to survive in a habitat with relatively little sea ice. Polar bears face existential threat ...
Projected change in polar bear habitat from 2001–2010 to 2041–2050. Arctic warming negatively affects the foraging and breeding ecology of native Arctic mammals, such as Arctic foxes or Arctic reindeer. In July 2019, 200 Svalbard reindeer were found starved to death apparently due to low precipitation related to climate change.
Polar bears are marine mammals, adapted to life on frozen or partly-frozen ocean. They hunt seals from the surface of the sea ice, and also rely on the ice to travel. Sea ice is as important to the Arctic as the soil is to the forest – it supports the entire Arctic food chain. Arctic sea ice is melting at a rate of 13.1% to 13.4% per decade.
For animals, there has been a decrease in the number of polar bears in the Hudson Bay area. Since 1981, the polar bear population has been declining. This is because global warming causes the ice to break up faster so the polar bears are going to the coasts when there are poor conditions. Conservation efforts
The Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears is a multilateral treaty signed in Oslo, November 15, 1973, by the five nations with the largest polar bear populations: Canada, Denmark ( Greenland ), Norway ( Svalbard ), the United States, and the Soviet Union. [1] This treaty was brought about due to increased hunting of polar bears during ...