Polar Bears and the Changing Climate

Polar Bears live throughout the cold Arctic. These are the fuzzy white bears you see on the Coca-Cola commercials. Most of them like to live on the bodies of water that are covered in ice. These areas are called polar; hence the name “polar” bears. But the homes of these polar bears are quickly changing due to a change in climate.

Climate is like the average weather that occurs in a particular place. It is the temperature, the amount of rain, wind, and more. You might not know it, but slight changes in the climate can change the life of these fuzzy bears greatly!

But why is the climate changing? When we do such things as drive our cars, poisonous gases are released into the atmosphere. These harmful gases are called Greenhouse gases. They trap the heat and light from the sun in the earth’s atmosphere. When this happens it increases the temperature on earth. The climate then warms.

When the atmosphere and climate begin to warm, the ice that the polar bears live on begins to melt. This gives polar bears less room to live. Also when the ice melts it begins to crack and break apart. Then the ice then moves and spreads apart. The polar bears sometimes become stranded out on sea on one of these blocks of ice that breaks off. In addition, this will require polar bears to use greater amounts of energy and effort to move to live somewhere else or hunt for food. With the ice disappearing, it is doubtful that polar bears will survive.

The change in their habitat due to the climate change also affects the lives of the polar bear’s main prey, the seal. Seals also get stranded off in the ocean due to the melting of the ice. If the seals start to die off, the polar bear’s main source of food will decrease.

These changes in the climate not only affect the polar bear’s home and source of food, but also the way their bodies protect themselves. Polar bears are made to store a lot of fat inside their bodies in order to stay warm in polar areas. But due to the increase in temperature, polar bears will no longer need to store as much fat to keep warm. So when the female bears get pregnant, they don’t have that extra fat to keep their babies warm. Their bodies don’t know ahead of time that they are going to need that extra cushion to keep their cubs safe and warm. This can cause health problems for both the mother bear and the cub.

A lot of research has gone into discovering all of this information. And a lot of research is being done to stop this change in climate that is harming the lives of the polar bears. But the movement and melting of the ice will cause differences in the way in the land. These differences make it difficult for researchers to study the Polar Regions and the bears that live there because the land now differs from their maps. These difficulties have not stopped them though. They are constantly studying in order the help save the life of these bears so that they can live for years to come. Don’t worry! With the help of scientists, researchers, and the rest of the world you will still be watching these fuzzy bears on your television.

Polar Bears in a Warming Climate, by Andrew Derocher, Nicholas Lunn, and Ian Stirling
http://icb.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/44/2/163?eaf

Anna Perez