What’s White and Lifeless? The Arctic With No Polar Bears
by Jon McCormack
Ursus maritimus-more commonly known as the polar bear-is the the primary predator of the arctic. They roam the icy landscape, scanning for food causing arctic wildlife to stay on their toes. Their white fur perfectly blends in with their surroundings, giving them the element of surprise when hunting. On average they weigh around 1,600 lbs., can grow to 12 feet tall, have 42 razor sharp ivory teeth, 12 inch wide paws, and many more dimensions that make this mammal deadly (Robinson, 2008). Their favorite animal to feast on is the seal and they have three main methods of hunting them. Their habitat ranges all over the Arctic, including Greenland, Iceland, Canada, and Siberia (Robinson, 2008). They have been known to swim immense distances-hundreds of miles in fact-swimming from ice sheet to ice sheet.
Polar bears are also very important to the native people in the arctic, for example the Inuit. The Inuit not only have a very high respect for the polar bear, they also use it for things like food and clothing. The meat and skin of a polar bear can be used to sustain communities that would have no other methods of obtaining resources. Recently however, quotas have been made by countries that have polar bears on the amount of hunting that is allowed. So, far Norway is the only country that has completely banned the hunting of polar bears, but countries like the United States, Canada, and Russia have put a cap on the amount. Native tribes have some special privileges for hunting when it comes to festivities or other cultural events, but in all, hunting has been seriously kept under control to make sure population decline doesn’t spiral out of control.
The major mode of transportation for polar bears is using broken off pieces of ice. But with increasing temperatures, the amount of ice is dwindling. Hudson Bay is a popular place for polar bears to hang out and is a place of increasing concern for its ice coverage decline. Since it is part of the southern range of polar bear’s habitat, it is most affected by increasing temperatures. As the ice sheets melt, the range that the polar bears can hunt other arctic animals in decreases. This causes immense stress on the population of polar bears-their food source dwindles and they are forced to fast for months. This has caused a decrease in polar bear population-one study done by a team of scientists doing research in Hudson Bay found that there was a decrease in population, with the population going down from 1,194 in 1987 to 935 in 2004. In Roxana Robinson’s article titled Polar Bears, she stated that in the five years before 2008, the population of polar bears has decreased by 20%. The rising temperatures are directly correlated to population decrease, but many factors arise from climate change in the arctic.
[Photo, Polar Bear Female With Cubs Along the Beaufort Sea, by USFWS licensed by CC BY-NC-ND 2.0]
by Jon McCormack
Ursus maritimus-more commonly known as the polar bear-is the the primary predator of the arctic. They roam the icy landscape, scanning for food causing arctic wildlife to stay on their toes. Their white fur perfectly blends in with their surroundings, giving them the element of surprise when hunting. On average they weigh around 1,600 lbs., can grow to 12 feet tall, have 42 razor sharp ivory teeth, 12 inch wide paws, and many more dimensions that make this mammal deadly (Robinson, 2008). Their favorite animal to feast on is the seal and they have three main methods of hunting them. Their habitat ranges all over the Arctic, including Greenland, Iceland, Canada, and Siberia (Robinson, 2008). They have been known to swim immense distances-hundreds of miles in fact-swimming from ice sheet to ice sheet.
Polar bears are also very important to the native people in the arctic, for example the Inuit. The Inuit not only have a very high respect for the polar bear, they also use it for things like food and clothing. The meat and skin of a polar bear can be used to sustain communities that would have no other methods of obtaining resources. Recently however, quotas have been made by countries that have polar bears on the amount of hunting that is allowed. So, far Norway is the only country that has completely banned the hunting of polar bears, but countries like the United States, Canada, and Russia have put a cap on the amount. Native tribes have some special privileges for hunting when it comes to festivities or other cultural events, but in all, hunting has been seriously kept under control to make sure population decline doesn’t spiral out of control.
The major mode of transportation for polar bears is using broken off pieces of ice. But with increasing temperatures, the amount of ice is dwindling. Hudson Bay is a popular place for polar bears to hang out and is a place of increasing concern for its ice coverage decline. Since it is part of the southern range of polar bear’s habitat, it is most affected by increasing temperatures. As the ice sheets melt, the range that the polar bears can hunt other arctic animals in decreases. This causes immense stress on the population of polar bears-their food source dwindles and they are forced to fast for months. This has caused a decrease in polar bear population-one study done by a team of scientists doing research in Hudson Bay found that there was a decrease in population, with the population going down from 1,194 in 1987 to 935 in 2004. In Roxana Robinson’s article titled Polar Bears, she stated that in the five years before 2008, the population of polar bears has decreased by 20%. The rising temperatures are directly correlated to population decrease, but many factors arise from climate change in the arctic.
[Photo, Polar Bear Female With Cubs Along the Beaufort Sea, by USFWS licensed by CC BY-NC-ND 2.0]