In a remarkable feat of endurance, a polar bear has been tracked swimming for nine days continuously in a desperate bid to reach new ice floes, covering 426 miles in the process. The bears are excellent swimmers and are known to travel long distances in search of seals. But scientists …
Read More »New Obama Offshore Oil Plan Sacrifices Polar Bear Habitat
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar today issued a revised offshore oil plan that will allow drilling in the heart of polar bear habitat in Alaska. Salazar’s announcement, which came in response to a previous court ruling, finalized a revised 2007-2012 nationwide offshore oil leasing plan. The previous plan, issued under the …
Read More »Dramatic New Video Footage of Starving Polar Bear Cubs Shows Consequences of Delaying Action on Global Warming
While world leaders meeting in Mexico continue to delay significant action on global warming, dramatic new video footage shows the dire consequences of inaction for imperiled polar bears. The video, shot on November 23, 2010 on the western shores of Hudson Bay in Manitoba, Canada, shows an undernourished polar bear …
Read More »Polar bears spotted swimming with cubs on back
Polar bears have been spotted carrying their cubs on their backs while they swim through icy waters, according to researchers. It is thought the practice is new and the result of the bears having to swim longer distance in the sea because of reductions in the Arctic ice in the …
Read More »Polar Bears’ Habitat in the Arctic Designated as “Critical”
Polar bears’ Arctic home in Alaska will be designated as “critical habitat,” the U.S. Interior Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) said on Wednesday. The zone encompasses more than 187,000 square miles (484,000 square kilometers) along Alaska”s north coast. “The critical habitat designation clearly identifies the areas that need to …
Read More »Study sees polar bears losing out to grizzlies
Polar bears are likely to lose out to grizzly bears in fierce competition for food as climate change drives the two species closer together into shared habitat, biologists concluded in a study released on Tuesday. The research was based on 3-D computer modeling that compared the skull and jaw strength …
Read More »Late Hudson Bay ice imperils polar bears
Hundreds of polar bears in northeastern Manitoba may face an increased risk of starvation due to delayed ice formation along the western coast of Hudson Bay, conservationists say. Higher-than-normal temperatures have prevented ice from forming in the region, putting it three to four weeks behind schedule, according to the Canadian …
Read More »Canadian Hudson Bay Polar Bears Suffering as Ice Melts Away
The polar bears who make their home in Hudson Bay, Canada are struggling to find food on land as the ice that they need to survive diminishes every year. And according to one wildlife expert who studies the bears the melting ice could mean that polar bears in the region …
Read More »Manitoba’s polar bears could disappear in 30 years: Scientists
Northern Manitoba”s celebrated polar bear population is set to vanish in just a few short decades, if research by two of the world”s top experts proves right. The Western Hudson Bay subpopulation of polar bears, estimated at 935 animals in 2004, is expected to decline over the next 25 to …
Read More »Proposal for worldwide ban on polar bear trade defeated
A ban backed by the United States to ban the international trade of polar bear skins, teeth and claws at the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species has been shot down, due to opposition led by Canada and Norway. The US argued that the international trade of the …
Read More »Canada opposes U.S. effort to ban polar bear trade
A cross-border battle is looming over polar bears, the Arctic giants that provoke passionate reactions in both Canada and the United States. The U.S. wants to ban the trade in polar-bear body parts, a proposal that will be considered at a meeting beginning next week of the Convention on International …
Read More »Arctic polar bears imperilled by man-made pollution
The long term survival of polar bears is being threatened by man-made pollution that is reaching the Arctic. This conclusion comes from a major review of research into how industrial chemicals such as mercury and organochlorines affect the bears. The review suggests that such chemicals have a range of subclinical …
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