Tor Selnes owes his life to a lamp. He miraculously survived a fatal avalanche that shed light on the vulnerability of Svalbard, a region warming faster than anywhere else, to human-caused climate change.
Environment
Jun 22, 2022
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22
With the polar bear species in a fight for survival because of disappearing Arctic sea ice, a new distinct group of Greenland bears seem to have stumbled on an icy oasis that might allow a small remote population to "hang ...
Ecology
Jun 19, 2022
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15
Scientists have documented a previously unknown subpopulation of polar bears living in Southeast Greenland. The polar bears survive with limited access to sea ice by hunting from freshwater ice that pours into the ocean from ...
Ecology
Jun 16, 2022
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505
An analysis of ancient DNA from a 100,000-year-old polar bear has revealed that extensive hybridization between polar bears and brown bears occurred during the last warm interglacial period in the Pleistocene, leaving a surprising ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 16, 2022
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1072
A new study is providing an enhanced look at the intertwined evolutionary histories of polar bears and brown bears.
Plants & Animals
Jun 06, 2022
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145
A new University of Toronto study is using polar bear scat to reveal how certain chemical contaminants can become trapped—and build up—inside the body.
Plants & Animals
May 30, 2022
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56
Riding through Canadian polar bear country in a Tundra Buggy—essentially a monster truck that keeps riders safely distanced from wildlife—a BYU engineering capstone team scoured the landscape with sharp eyes. When they ...
Ecology
May 25, 2022
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38
A polar bear was spotted Saturday in the Quebec region of Canada, prompting wildlife officials to warn residents of a small town stunned by this very rare appearance.
Ecology
May 01, 2022
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56
Nanuk, the Inuktitut word for polar bear, is an iconic animal, capturing public imaginations and starring in international marketing campaigns. As nanuk has increasingly been used as the poster species for climate change, ...
Ecology
Apr 18, 2022
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18
Spain said on Sunday it seized over 1,000 taxidermied animals, including hundreds of endangered or extinct species, in one of the largest hauls of its kind.
Ecology
Apr 10, 2022
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72
Ursus eogroenlandicus Ursus groenlandicus Ursus jenaensis Ursus labradorensis Ursus marinus Ursus polaris Ursus spitzbergensis Ursus ungavensis Thalarctos maritimus
The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is a bear native to the Arctic Ocean and its surrounding seas. It is the world's largest carnivore species found on land. It's also the largest bear, together with the omnivore Kodiak bear which is approximately the same size. An adult male weighs around 400–680 kg (880–1,500 lb), while an adult female is about half that size. Although it is closely related to the brown bear, it has evolved to occupy a narrow ecological niche, with many body characteristics adapted for cold temperatures, for moving across snow, ice, and open water, and for hunting the seals which make up most of its diet. Although most polar bears are born on land, it spends most of its time at sea, hence its name meaning "maritime bear", and can hunt consistently only from sea ice, spending much of the year on the frozen sea.
The polar bear is classified as a vulnerable species, with 5 of the 19 polar bear subpopulations in decline. For decades, unrestricted hunting raised international concern for the future of the species; populations have rebounded after controls and quotas began to take effect. For thousands of years, the polar bear has been a key figure in the material, spiritual, and cultural life of Arctic indigenous peoples, and the hunting of polar bears remains important in their cultures.
The IUCN now lists global warming as the most significant threat to the polar bear, primarily because the melting of its sea ice habitat reduces its ability to find sufficient food. The IUCN states, "If climatic trends continue polar bears may become extirpated from most of their range within 100 years." On May 14, 2008, the United States Department of the Interior listed the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
