For twenty-seven years now polar bears have been studied and watched by the US Government. Data has shown that over years as ice conditions have worsened the bears have been moving inland and off the ice. between 1979 to 1987 twelve percent of bear sighting were on no ice. Then between 1997 through 2005 this number increased up to ninety percent. The sea ice has drastically decided in about twenty six years resulting in crucial habitat for these big white creatures to disappear. The number of bear-human sitings has also risen and that is something no one wants. These animals belong on the ice where they can live and feed like they always have.
Will the Ice ever be completely gone?
What will polar bears do to survive without the ice fields, will they find new sources of hunting and food or could their population simply die off?
2 Responses to “Nanooks off the ice.”
Wow! I have heard of how the polar bears are are becoming extinct. I think it’s amazing but terrible how much ice has melted in the recent years! I hope these bears will find a new habitat to find, so they won’t die off. I read that they ice has shrunk so much that the Arctic ice is now about the size of 6 California’s. It says that scientists are finding more and more evidence of these bears drowning and being starved to death.Scientists also predict that the Polar Bears will be extinct around 2050. The website that talks a lot about this subject is http://www.savebiogems.org/polar/.
It isn’t surprising that as sea ice declines, the polar bear population suffers. Not only do they suffer due to drowning and starvation, as Bailset discussed, but as they roam into villages in search of food, they can be killed for being a public nuisance and danger to citizens. As for the question that you pose about if the sea ice will ever be gone completely, I think that it’s a big possibility that sea ice will become different than we now know. It will have difficulty forming the the pack ice we’re used to. It is a possibility that the ice will only be present in the winter and not in the summer, whereas it is currently present during both seasons, but in different magnitudes.
Without the ice fields, the future of the polar bear is questionable. They may be able to adapt over substantial amount of time and become like the grizzly and black bear that we’re familiar with, or they may only be seen in captivity. If we don’t take action to save the Arctic sea ice, polar bears won’t be the only problem.