Can you guess why polar bears are at risk? Thats right, climate change. In some regions there has been a decline of these wonderful marine mammals because of habitat loss. Polar bears are found in the Arctic, living on the snow and ice. Did you know that 50 % of polar bears time is spent trying to hunt to survive, but no more than 2% of the time it is successful. They need to eat fat to survive in the cold and to keep up their energy levels, this means their main prey focus is on seals. Climate change makes seal hunting harder as their main technique for hunting is camouflage and patience, without ice or snow that becomes challenging. In addition, industrial development is present on some small areas of land and oil spills are something that could affect their food source. There has also been and augmentation in cargo ships and other ships that could cause an oil spill. This is a collision course we shouldn’t risk.
Climate change can also have an affect on a females reproductive system. How so you might ask? Well, if polar bears don’t get enough food, aka seals, their reproductive system will become weaker. The more weight the polar bear female has, the more likely she is to have baby cubs. Also if she has gained enough weight her milk will be successful as well. If she fails at gaining weight then by chance has cubs, she will produce less milk leading to small and weak cubs. On top of that there would be a chance that she would abandon her cubs, depending on the situation.
If we don’t help the polar bears, they are estimated to be extinct in 30-40 years. Is there something we can do to help save them? Yes there is, its time to reduce your carbon footprint! This means time to cut back on green house gas consumption, to finally stop climate change. For example you should walk, bike or bus to work instead of driving. Climate change is our fault and we need to put a stop to it.
The article got my attention because climate change is ongoing and slowly becoming a bigger problem for lots of animals. The first impression I got from this article was that polar bears actually have more problems than just climate change. It sounds like finding food is hard enough, and now becoming harder with habitat loss due to climate change. I liked learning about how climate change affects their hunting and even their reproductive system, I didn’t know that before. In addition, I learned what I can do for the polar bears and their environment.
Citations
Main articles
“Polar Bear.” WWF. World Wildlife Fund, n.d. Web. <https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/polar-bear>.
Feldkamp, Lisa. “Will Polar Bears Die Out Because of Climate Change?” Cool Green Science. Cool Green Science, 05 Dec. 2015. Web. <http://blog.nature.org/science/2013/12/03/what-science-polar-bear/>.
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