Polar bears rely on sea ice to hunt and capture seals as food \u2013 where they wait for them to surface through holes in the ice \u2013 but are unable to find enough nutrition on land. However, the Arctic is warming much faster than the rest of the planet due to the climate crisis; therefore, polar bears will soon be left without a suitable hunting ground as large areas of Arctic sea ice continue to melt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At present, there are less than 25,000 polar bears left, including 19 subpopulations spread across Norway, Canada, Alaska, and Siberia. The team of researchers assessed 13 of those subpopulations, representing around 80 per cent of the estimated remaining polar bears. More specifically, they modelled polar bear energy use, which they used to derive the threshold number of days the animals can fast before survival rates of both cubs and adults start to decline \u2013 the so-called fasting impact threshold.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Source: <\/em><\/strong> Siobh\u00e1n Dunphy<\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Manager\u2019s Office Team<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Polar bears rely on sea ice to hunt and capture seals as food \u2013 where they wait for them to…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":""},"categories":[191],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n