Lords of the Arctic - Plight of the Polar Bear

The Polar Bear is rapidly losing its battle against global warming. As its habitat continues to shrink, their chances of survival dwindle. These photographs were taken along one of the migratory routes that sees the highest concentration of bears anywhere on the planet. The numbers of bears have been dropping steadily each year (almost 25% between 2000 and 2004). Soon they will only be a distant memory.
They are magnificent, captivating, even magical. Churchill, Manitoba, Canada calls itself, “the polar bear capital of the world.” On a wind-blasted, icy tundra hundreds of polar bears come out of their summer-long drowsiness and head to the shores of Hudson Bay waiting for the water to freeze over so they can go out on the ice to hunt seals.

But, sometimes a polar bear will come right into Churchill. Wayward bears who wander into town get “arrested” captured and taken to “bear jail.” After several days of incarceration, they’re taken out, tranquilized and blindfolded, in case they wake up too soon Then they’re air-lifted away to the wilderness.

"What’s happening is we’ve had successive years where the sea ice in the bay has melted much earlier, so bears are coming ashore much earlier in poorer condition and coming into town more often,” said Geoff York, a polar bear expert and head of arctic species conservation for the World Wildlife Fund, which is leading research into the bear’s habits and habitats. It is backed by a $2 million grant from Coca-Cola.

York said earth’s warming climate means it takes longer for the ice on Hudson Bay to form and it is thawing earlier meaning a shorter period when polar bears are out on the ice, feeding. Without enough to eat, they may not last the summer. “Polar bears are definitely threatened, and they’re threatened by habitat that now is shrinking on both ends,” York said. They’re hungry because they haven’t had anything to eat since coming off the ice last July. And once again this year, the ice has been late forming. Their meal window is shrinking on both ends."

WHERE DO POLAR BEARS LIVE?
Evolved from brown bear ancestors, the polar bear is the top predator in the Arctic marine ecosystem and the world’s largest land carnivore. It is also superbly adapted for survival in the Far North where winter temperatures can plunge to -50 degrees Fahrenheit. The polar bear can be found across five Arctic nations: the United States (Alaska), Canada, Russia, Greenland, and Norway. In fact, there are 19 subpopulations of polar bears in the circumpolar Arctic ranging from as far south as Northern Ontario to the high Arctic regions of Canada and Greenland. Most of the polar bear population lives in Canada.
These snow-white bears make their homes on the annual sea ice where they hunt, live, breed, and in some cases create maternal dens. This challenging habitat is shared with indigenous peoples, and animals such as ringed seals, arctic foxes, narwhal, beluga whales and millions of migratory birds.
But the sea ice is much more than a simple platform—it is an entire ecosystem inhabited by plankton and microorganisms. These tiny creatures support a rich food chain that nourishes seals that become prey for polar bears and food for local people. In this way, the Arctic sea ice is the very foundation of the arctic marine ecosystem.

WHAT DO POLAR BEARS EAT?
The polar bear feeds mainly on a diet of ringed and bearded ice seals, which are a particularly energy-rich food source. In fact, an average-sized ringed seal can provide up to eight days of energy for the polar bear. However, some bears also occasionally hunt beluga whales and walrus successfully and will happily scavenge on the carcasses of beluga whales, grey whales, walruses, narwhals and bowhead whales.
Often described as fat loving, the polar bear's physiology is specialized to acquire large amounts of fat from marine mammals, which contains the most calories and is easy to digest. As a consequence, the polar bear cannot derive sufficient caloric intake from available food on shore. However, when food is scarce, the polar bear may resort to feeding on land food including muskox, reindeer, small rodents, waterfowl, shellfish, fish, eggs, kelp, berries, and human garbage.

The polar bear is estimated to spend well over 50 percent of its time hunting and tries to obtain most of its annual fat reserves between late April to mid-July, hopefully consuming enough calories to survive the summer and winter seasons when prey is harder to catch. Surprisingly, given their strength and agility, less than 2 percent of their hunts prove to be successful. It is reported that even in good hunting areas, a bear may only catch 1 seal every 4 or 5 days