A population of polar bears in Greenland is adapting to a life without sea ice

[Judi Lynn]

They survive by hunting from freshwater ice that pours into the ocean from Greenland’s glaciers -- an unusual strategy for polar bears.

Fermin Koop by Fermin Koop June 17, 2022

Reading Time: 4 mins readPolar bears have long been seen as the poster child of global warming’s impact on the natural world, and for good reason: the bears rely on sea ice to hunt seals, so climate change could destroy the habitats the bears desperately need, which puts the species at risk of extinction. However, in a rare piece of good news, scientists have discovered a group of bears in southeast Greenland has adapted to hunting using freshwater platforms — something which was thought to be impossible.

The unexpected finding suggests polar bears (or at least some polar bears0 can live in a wider variety of conditions than scientists previously thought, raising the possibility of some bears in specific locations being more resilient to climate change. However, many questions still remain to be answered about the newly identified population in Greenland, the researchers said, and we shouldn’t rush to generalize ideas to all polar bears.

The study combines seven years of new data with 30 years of historical data from Greenland’s southeastern coast. The region had been poorly studied due to its unpredictable weather, heavy snowfall, and jagged mountains. The population, genetic and movement data from the researchers shows how the bears survive despite the limited access to sea ice.

“Polar bears are threatened by sea ice loss due to climate change. This new population gives us some insight into how the species might persist into the future,” Kristin Laidre, study author, said in a statement. “But we need to be careful about extrapolating our findings. The glacier ice that makes it possible for these bears to survive isn’t available in most of the Arctic.”

More:
https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/polar-bears-in-greenland-are-adapting-to-a-life-without-sea-ice-17062022/