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25 lut 2022 · Sea ice is essential habitat for polar bears—but across the Arctic, it is disappearing quickly. As a result of rising temperatures caused by the climate crisis, sea-ice concentrations in the Arctic have declined in every decade since the start of satellite records in 1979.
Majestic creature of the far north, the polar bear is the world’s largest terrestrial carnivore. Its Latin name, Ursus maritimus, means ‘sea bear’: an apt name for this amazing animal, which spends much of its life in, around, or on the water – predominantly on the sea ice.
Ten polar bear facts. 1) Polar bears are found in the frozen wilds of the Arctic, in Canada, Alaska (US), Greenland, Russia and Norway. 2) These are seriously big bears, gang. Adult polar bears can measure over 2.5m long and weigh around 680kg.
A projection of sea ice in the archipelago, supported by WWF, shows that much of the region is facing significant ice loss in the coming decades–with potentially serious consequences for polar bears. Global polar bear numbers are projected to decline by 30% by 2050.
Why do polar bears need sea ice? Polar bears rely heavily on sea ice for traveling, hunting, resting, mating and, in some areas, maternal dens. But they are losing their sea ice habitat because of a warming climate—the primary threat to polar bears throughout the Arctic.
13 lut 2024 · 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.
A polar bear’s territory may be small if the bear has constant access to ice and seals. In areas such as Greenland, the Bering Seas or Chukchi, the bears may have to relocate many hundreds of kilometers each year to remain on the ice where they can still hunt seals.
