This is NOT news.
I am glad that I will be pushing up the daisies when the last polar bear in the wild goes extinct due to human-caused global warming.
2
If it hasn't already dawned on you yet I'm sorry to be to one to break it to you. The polar bears are done for. Their time has passed. At this point there is nothing going to change it.
3
Half the worlds animals have gone extinct since 1970. By the end of trump's presidency, there won't be many left....including us.
3
Why not create a collar that can be unlocked remotely? Isn’t anesthesia a bad idea due to possible long term side effects to the animals behavior?
6
I would've interested to know what the US Geological Survey reports on changes to the magnetic poles. This all means rough times ahead for the polar bears.
1
Since the seals are also located in the ice pack areas, reduced ice cover should concentrate the seals, making hunting easier for polar bears. There seems to be a lot of supposition and little actual data and observation on this topic.
1
Not surprisingly genetic/biological studies done of "Eskimos", Inuit Peoples and the Nomadic people who herd and follow reindeer in Siberia show they too are fat burning machines.
4
Many types of Arctic birds and sea life have migrated southerly for sustenance.
Too bad for the larger land mammals. They will all become extinct, (or near to), in the wild during our grandchildren's lives.
5
Imagine swimming with no relief in sight, swimming to exhaustion, swimming until you give up and drown. This is what is meant by "No sea ice, no polar bears," and it is happening to one of the most beautiful, iconic species in the world. That karma is on you, America. Demanding climate change action isn't just for future generations and other species, it's for our own souls. So what are you doing about it?
16
It's an amazing feat of evolution. These warm blooded polar bears have adapted to a life of jumping into icy waters to catch another "fishy" mammal swimming in the water under the ice. Then the bear jumps back up onto the ice to wander for miles and miles. And now it appears this natural treasure will go the way of the passenger pigeon. Why is it hard for all us to see this and do what is right?
11
Polar Bears won’t disappear.
But forced sympatry, triggered by ecological changes, in this case global warming, will force them into partially overlapping habitats with Grizzlies moving north. More frequent encounters between populations will lead to more Hybrids, like Pizzly and Grolar Bears (Male Polar x Female Grizzly and vice versa), and to an offspring with a different habitus.
This has happened before, as DNA studies indicate (even with us homines pretending to be sapientes.
Nevertheless, we should do everything possible to save their respective native environment.
It’s simply a vital part of saving ours
5
Can't we just kill seals for the Polar Bears and give the meat to them once and a while? Just give the Bears freshly killed seals once and a while to keep them going, but not enough where they lose their hunting instincts, if possible. It is a delicate balance, but it will help propagate the species. We have to do something.
6
I am a climate change believer. How I despair at the plight of the polar bears, and all animals already extinct, and those that will become extinct during + beyond this enfant terrible administration.
But I did want to say for those interested in why Polar Bears are so efficient at fat burning (and I expect Gary Taubes to add his voice here). Seals are fatty. Fat is good. Sugar bad. Protein, eh, a bit, not much.
1
Eh? There are a HECK of a lot of protein eating carnivorous species out there that have survived thousands and millions of years that are still here to prove you dead wrong.
We are one of them!!! Protein served us very well thanks (despite some Vegans wanting to re-write our history). One of the few ways Anthropologists can conclusively confirm where early man has been is to find ARROWHEADS (yes, made to kill meat for the protein - not being whittled as hobbies)
4
Wake up President Trump and pay attention to global warming. Or at the bare minimum talk to scientists and find out what they know and can tell you. And consider you may be wrong in calling it a hoax. Easy word to use but can YOU prove it?? This article makes me want to cry. Stop tweeting and do some reading. I'd rather "know" a polar bear than Donald J. Trump.
7
If its a new study, how do we know that it hasn't always been tough out there?
2
Of course It has! - it just looks sad to us because we are "cognisant" of something that has been going on for millions of years - the HARSHENESS of nature. We just happen to be around for this. Not to trivialize our terrible contribution to this.
What do you think brought them to such an inhospitable place in the first place? Yes it's sad - but animals either adapt or become part of the fossil record.
Studies show Brown Bears on the rise and, as one might guess, breeding between Polar bears and Brown Bears.
3
It is amazing to watch their behavior. The most striking feature is that the cub learns everything from the mother. If the mother maintains a 100 mile loop in her life so do the cubs when they grow up. And if a mom does a 30 mile loop so do their cubs. You can look at a young adult and guess the mother. While survival lies mostly on how well sea ice forms there is an element of how well the mother taught her cubs. This year when I traveled up to Manitoba it appears the sea ice formed early which gives them two extra weeks to feed but then again I read reports that the sea ice was still smaller then previous years. I am rooting for them - to survive and perhaps even find alternate ways to feed - eating bird eggs, pouncing on Belugas in shallow waters. Somehow survive! Despite the follies of the most dangerous animal on earth (us) I hope they survive. We need them as much as they need us!
14
I don’t see how polar bears and other Arctic animals will survive as the Arctic ice melts. Further down the food chain, people are in danger of going extinct, too. It’s all happening too fast and humans haven’t responded in kind. Kinda like a climate change bullet train coming down the line, and we’re tied tightly to the tracks. Will we rescue ourselves in time?
9
I tend to think we don't deserve to be rescued.
7
Many of us can't bear to look at what we humans have wrought.
We shield our eyes from the internals of factory farms,
the capsized raft of immigrant women and children,
the starving of polar bears.
But not looking won't make it go away.
These images and our reaction to them are critically important to the next step:
We may not be able to save the polar bears from a fate we have saddled them with, but we can put our bodies between the machine of carbon profit and the species such action will still help save.
We can pass laws against the cruelty factory farming, and vote
by what we are willing to pay for.
We can open our borders to those who are suffering greatly.
There is suffering in the world, and some of it will continue.
But every person who refuses to turn away offers hope that
some of that suffering can be reduced.
If you are saddened and sickened by the plight of the polar bear,
don't throw up your arms in surrender to our ignorance and callousness.
Work to help relieve suffering wherever you can.
Maybe next time you're a polar bear.
Maybe next time you're a factory calf.
Maybe next time your raft is leaking and your child is cold,
and you pray beyond hope that some organization received enough donations and volunteer hours to send a boat in your direction.
13