This was one of the comments to the article. Looks like the bears adapt, just like any organism does.
Dan Clements
Seattle, WA 1 day ago
I just returned from a polar bear photo shoot on the Seal River on the Manitoba/Nunavut border. We were on the ground, hiking with bears. A very humbling experience being so close to these beautiful animals.
What is overlooked by many who read this article is that the polar bear population is stable in most areas. The Alaska population is the notable exception. The western Hudson Bay population has actually grown, and the bears appear quite active and healthy.
Our guides and local scientists studying this population had some interesting observations. First, about ten years ago, they started seeing bears prey on juvenile beluga whales. On ebb tides water depths drop to three or four feet, and bears can separate young belugas from their mothers for a meal.
Second, this past year one of our guides was able to video two bears hunting an adult beluga, killing it, and hauling the carcass on shore for a major feed. To their knowledge, this type of hunting has not been previously observed.
I have spent a great deal of time in the bush observing and photographing a variety of different Ursis species, and have found these animals to be incredibly intelligent and adaptive. My hope is that, while polar bear populations may be stressed to the point of extinction in some limited areas, the species will continue to stabilize and slowly expand, in spite of man's best efforts to muck up the environment.
Dan Clements
Seattle, WA 1 day ago
I just returned from a polar bear photo shoot on the Seal River on the Manitoba/Nunavut border. We were on the ground, hiking with bears. A very humbling experience being so close to these beautiful animals.
What is overlooked by many who read this article is that the polar bear population is stable in most areas. The Alaska population is the notable exception. The western Hudson Bay population has actually grown, and the bears appear quite active and healthy.
Our guides and local scientists studying this population had some interesting observations. First, about ten years ago, they started seeing bears prey on juvenile beluga whales. On ebb tides water depths drop to three or four feet, and bears can separate young belugas from their mothers for a meal.
Second, this past year one of our guides was able to video two bears hunting an adult beluga, killing it, and hauling the carcass on shore for a major feed. To their knowledge, this type of hunting has not been previously observed.
I have spent a great deal of time in the bush observing and photographing a variety of different Ursis species, and have found these animals to be incredibly intelligent and adaptive. My hope is that, while polar bear populations may be stressed to the point of extinction in some limited areas, the species will continue to stabilize and slowly expand, in spite of man's best efforts to muck up the environment.
