Save+the+Polar+Bears

The polar bear has become the iconic symbol of the threat of warming and rightly so – its survival is absolutely dependent on Arctic sea ice, which is rapidly disappearing. Believed to have diverged from its cousin the brown bear around the time of the last ice age, polar bears are relative newcomers among bear species. Unlike their forebears, polar bears are full-time carnivores, depending almost entirely in seals to maintain their nearly 4 inch thick insulating layer of blubber. An adult male can tilt the scales at 1500 lbs; females, half that.

Global Warming Threats
Bears hunt seals, their primary food source, at the edge of Arctic sea ice. As sea ice disappears, bear mortality rises. There are documented instances of bears drowning, unable to make the long swim from one ice flow to the next. Polar bears also appear to be shrinking in size – researchers say the bears are a third smaller than they were 30 years ago as melting ice makes it harder for them to catch seals. Some are now even resorting to eating other bears to survive. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List has rated the polar bear as a "vulnerable species," defined as subject to a "high risk of extinction in the wild." In 2008, the polar bear became the first animal to be added to the Endangered Species Act list of threatened species because of global warming. An estimated 20,000 - 25,000 polar bears remain in the wild.

Wider Implications
The ice edge is the closest thing to a biological hotspot in the far North – many Arctic creatures make their homes there. As polar bears are top predators, their disappearance could trigger a cascade of ecological consequences. Arctic foxes and gulls are among the species known to feed regularly on the remains of polar bear kills. Bearded and ringed seals, polar bears' favorite foods, may also find survival difficult without the ice edge, presently the seals' breeding grounds.

Other Arctic Species at Risk
Seals, including ringed and bearded. Arctic fox



Endangered polar bears' future rests on thin ice
WILDLIFE OFFICIALS HELPLESS: Arctic habitat continues to melt. By DAN JOLING The Associated Press Published: June 27th, 2010 10:27 PM Last Modified: June 27th, 2010 10:27 PM Polar bear policy in America can be summed up succinctly: The iconic bears are threatened with extinction, and so far nothing much is being done. Story tools [|0 Comments] E-mail a friend [|Print] [|Share on Facebook] Digg this Seed Newsvine [|Send link via AIM] [polar bears' future rests on thin ice&url=/2010/06/26/1342804/endangered-polar-bears-future.html|Tweet this] [|Yahoo! Buzz]
 * Font size :** [|A] | [|A] | [|A]

tool name
close tool goes here Two years after they were listed under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has taken no major action in response to their principal threat, the loss of sea ice habitat due to climate change. Federal officials have declared that the Endangered Species Act will not be used in the attempt to regulate greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming and melting ice in the Arctic Ocean. That leaves Rosa Meehan, the Fish and Wildlife Service marine mammals manager in Alaska, with few tools to protect the great bears of the Arctic. She hangs on to the hope that the scientists are wrong about the bears' future. "Our crystal ball is not perfect," Meehan said recently. She spoke between public hearings on whether the federal government should designate critical habitat for polar bears. Her agency has proposed designating 187,166 square miles of U.S. territory -- 95 percent of it in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas -- as polar bear critical habitat.

Read more: []

 [|enlarge] STEVE AMSTRUP / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via The Associated Press archive A polar bear rests with her cubs in the Beaufort Sea. The biggest threat to the bears is melting ice, which wildlife officials can't stop.

Related Links [|More polar bear news]

[|More Polar Bear News stories »]
[|Polar bears gain 187,000 square miles of critical habitat] [|Federal judge sets deadline in polar bear listing suit] [|Arctic warming accelerates in 2010, scientists report] [|Judge seeks clarification of terms in battle over polar bears] [|Polar bear causes stir in Yukon delta village]

Read more: []