The Arctic warming is not giving up, and its most iconic species are increasingly struggling to survive. Polar bears in western Canada’s Hudson Bay, Arcticmany continue to disappear, as a new government account of this terrestrial carnivore reveals. Female bears and cubs have a particularly hard time, and many die.
Inspectors inspected by air in 2021 Hudson Bay, the city dubbed the “polar bear capital of the world”, and they guessed it was there increased from 842 bears recorded in 2016 to 618at the last count.
“The actual decline is much larger than I expected,” said Andrew Derocher, a biology professor at the University of Alberta who has studied Hudson Bay polar bears for nearly four decades.
The situation is dire because Since the 1980s, bear numbers in the region have declined by almost 50%., according to the authors. But the reason is already known: the ice necessary for their survival is disappearing as a result of the melting that this part of the planet is suffering from.
Polar bears depend on Arctic sea ice (frozen ocean water) decreases with higher temperatures in the summer and regenerates during the long winter months. When they’re out, they use it to hunt by roosting near existing holes in the ice to catch seals, their favorite food.
But sea ice is shrinking as the Arctic warms two to three times faster than the rest of the world due to climate change. already at the beginning of the year and in the fall it takes longer to freeze again. The result is less ice throughout the year.
This phenomenon is causing many Arctic bears to have less ice to live on, hunt and breed.
Polar bears are one of the best-known manifestations of climate change, as the species is particularly affected by this phenomenon, even years before global warming began to worry the entire population.
Researchers claim that The rise in cub and she-bear deaths west of Hudson Bay is worrying.
“These are the bear species that we always predict will be affected by changes in the environment,” said Stephen Atkinson, lead author of the study, who has studied polar bears for more than 30 years.
Young specimens need energy to grow and cannot live long without adequate nutrients. female bears suffer because they spend a lot of energy nursing and raising their cubs.
“Certainly this raises questions about the viability of the species,” Derocher said. Said.
Atkinson said that the reproductive capacity of polar bears in the western Hudson Bay will decrease, “because There are fewer young bears surviving to become adults.”.
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Contact address of the environment department: crizclimatica@prensaiberica.es
Source: Informacion
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