Shrinking Arctic ice could cause polar bears to starve even faster than previously thought

Reuters/Mathieu Belanger

• Scientists have discovered how many seals polar bears need to catch while they forage on ice to survive. 
• The research shows that the bears are catching fewer seals and moving greater distances than they used to, resulting in an energy imbalance. 
• As Arctic ice declines and food becomes more scarce, polar bears could starve faster as they have to range farther for the amount of food they need. 

Polar bears live in a remote and inhospitable environment far from most human settlements. For most biologists, opportunities to observe these animals are fleeting. In fact, scientists’ main resources for understanding basic behaviors of polar bears on sea ice are observations of polar bear behavior and foraging rates made by Canadian biologist Ian Stirling more than 40 years ago, combined with local traditional knowledge from Arctic indigenous peoples.

With ongoing and forecasted declines in Arctic sea ice, there is a greater need to understand how polar bears use sea ice and will respond to anticipated environmental changes. To answer this question, I have been studying polar bears’ physiology and foraging behavior in the Arctic since 2013 with colleagues from the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of California at Santa Cruz, the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research and Dr. Stephen Atkinson, an independent research wildlife biologist.

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