Latest news with #polarbears
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists make alarming discovery after attaching GoPro cameras to polar bears in the Arctic — here's what's happening
Scientists make alarming discovery after attaching GoPro cameras to polar bears in the Arctic — here's what's happening The large amounts of melting sea ice due to rising global temperatures are impacting polar bears' ability to hunt for seals, forcing them to adapt to new ways of finding food. However, these alternative food options are much less nutritious and scarce, resulting in cases of alarming weight loss, Glass Almanac reported. What's happening? A group of Canadian scientists attached GoPro cameras to GPS collars on 20 polar bears in the Hudson Bay area in northeastern Canada. The scientists studied the footage and observed how polar bears are adapting to rapidly melting sea ice. Over three years, the scientists observed how polar bears are collectively losing an alarming amount of weight. Of the 20 bears studied, 19 lost an average of 46 pounds over three weeks, according to Glass Almanac. The loss of sea ice directly affects the bears' ability to hunt for seals, an important food source that provides the bears with high-fat food for energy and warmth, allowing the bears to weather the cold, hunt for more food, and survive. The footage shows the polar bears increasingly turning to food on land as hunting for seals becomes more difficult. On average, polar bears "now spend up to three weeks more on land each year compared to the early 1980s, when the ice was more stable and reliable for hunting," per the Glass Almanac. However, food on land — bird carcasses, berries, and other marine animals — does not provide the bears with enough nutrition to continue hunting and survive, leading to alarming rates of weight loss. Why is melting sea ice concerning? Rising global temperatures are melting sea ice rapidly, which contributes to rising sea levels. This can endanger coastal cities, putting them at risk of flooding or storm surges, and threatening the destruction of coastal infrastructure. Increased global temperatures are also causing more water to evaporate, making extreme weather conditions, like heavy rains, winds, and storms, more frequent and intense. New Mexico, a traditionally dry climate, has been experiencing heavy rainfall and flooding — as many states have recently. Do you worry about air pollution in your town? All the time Often Only sometimes Never Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. What's being done about rising sea levels? Slowing the rate of global temperature increase can help keep sea levels at a safer level, mitigating the incidence and risk of extreme weather events. It also prevents sea ice from disappearing, allowing polar bears to continue hunting for food as they've done for generations. On an individual level, you can effect change by educating yourself, family, and friends about critical climate issues and voting for climate-conscious leaders that put the health of the community and the planet at the forefront of their legislative efforts. In a similar vein, find local organizations doing good and important work, and volunteer your time, money, or effort to support your community and the larger planet's climate resiliency. Each effort toward a healthier, more sustainable planet helps preserve the health and natural beauty of the world, ensuring future generations may get to live and experience the planet as we once did. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Thrill-seeking tourists stunned by 'amazing' sight as polar travel booms
Surrounded by a frozen and unforgiving landscape, tourists recently watched on as two polar bears picked apart the carcass of a dead whale floating among icebergs in the frigid Arctic. Stunning images of the "unforgettable moment" were captured from the passenger vessel, with a marine biologist on board telling Yahoo News Australia it was "the best sighting of this kind" in the 18 years he's worked as a guide. "Our guests got to witness two bears near a dead whale floating amongst the ice," marine biologist Mikolaj Golachowski explained. "It was a foggy day, so everything kept coming in and out of view. But then it cleared and we saw a bear (most likely a female) walking close to the ship, heading towards the carcass, then spending about an hour on top of it, feeding. "After that, she left to disappear into the returning fog... It does happen, but in my 18 years of working as a guide in the Arctic, this was the third and by far the best sighting of this kind. Reasonably close and long. "That was amazing!" he said. The moment on July 11 was cherished for how special it was, and it's scenes like this that are seeing more travellers keen to throw some warm clothing into a suitcase and jet off to the ends of the Earth. As a result, Polar tourism is booming as more and more visitors flock to the once out-of-reach environment. But the trend has raised concerns about the potential costs to the environment. "Interest in travelling to the Arctic has grown year on year over the last few years," a spokesperson for Quark Expeditions, a tour company specialising in Arctic and Antarctic travel, told Yahoo News. While the company focuses primarily on tourism around the North Pole, between 14-16 per cent of people exploring Antarctica with the company are Australians, it said. Tourists flock to polar regions as 'sustainability' is questioned Both the Arctic and Antarctica are experiencing booms in tourism, and scientists are urging authorities to focus on sustainability as demand skyrockets. Antarctica While tourism to Antarctica remains exclusive and very expensive, it has slowly started to grow in popularity. Visitors have increased more than tenfold in the last 30 years, according to data from the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators. 🐋 Quiet change seen off Australia's coast linked to 'worrying' event 🥺 Emotional decision looms as ancient site faces extreme storm 📚 Backlash over radical climate change plan for Aussie schools Unchecked tourism growth in the southern polar region is cause for concern, scientists say. Approximately two-thirds of Antarctic tourists land on the continent, threatening fragile ecosystems there by compacting soils, trampling vegetation, introducing non-native microbes and disturbing breeding colonies of birds and seals. Darla Hatton MacDonald and Elizabeth Leane, both professors at the University of Tasmania, explained the polar region is already under increased pressure due to climate change, and tourism will only exacerbate the issue, tipping the delicate ecosystems into decline. The Arctic In June, United Airlines commenced direct flights from the US to Greenland to accommodate the growing interest in polar explorations. The 2,200-metre runway recently built at Nuuk airport also expands options for tourists eager to travel to the country, without the commitment of flying first to Denmark or Iceland and changing at a remote airport in Kangerlussuaq. However, cruise ships remain the most popular mode of transport, with tourists heading for the Arctic via Norway. More than 1.5 million cruise passengers visit Norwegian ports every year, according to the Norwegian Coastal Administration. Elina Hutton, Arctic tourism researcher, said the influx of tourism is damaging sensitive polar ecosystems. She believes Arctic governments need to put tighter controls on cruise ships to restrict the number of visits, throwing into question whether tourism should be embraced, Reuters reports. "Do we need to be able to travel everywhere? Do we need to be able to fly to Antarctica and cruise to the North Pole? I know it would be fun — but is it something that we need to be able to do?" she said. "It can't be sustainable." Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@ You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
France 24
22-07-2025
- Science
- France 24
The eye-opening science of close encounters with polar bears
First you have to find it and then shoot it with a sedative dart from a helicopter before a vet dares approach on foot to put a GPS collar around its neck. Then the blood has to be taken and a delicate incision made into a layer of fat before it wakes. All this with a wind chill of up to minus 30C. For the last four decades experts from the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) have been keeping tabs on the health and movement of polar bears in the Svalbard archipelago, halfway between Norway and the North Pole. Like the rest of the Arctic, global warming has been happening there three to four times faster than elsewhere. But this year the eight scientists working from the Norwegian icebreaker Kronprins Haakon are experimenting with new methods to monitor the world's largest land carnivore, including for the first time tracking the PFAS "forever chemicals" from the other ends of the Earth that finish up in their bodies. An AFP photographer joined them on this year's eye-opening expedition. Delicate surgery on the ice With one foot on the helicopter's landing skid, vet Rolf Arne Olberg put his rifle to his shoulder as a polar bear ran as the aircraft approached. Hit by the dart, the animal slumped gently on its side into a snowdrift, with Olberg checking with his binoculars to make sure he had hit a muscle. If not, the bear could wake prematurely. "We fly in quickly," Oldberg said, and "try to minimise the time we come in close to the bear... so we chase it as little as possible." After a five- to 10-minute wait to make sure it is asleep, the team of scientists land and work quickly and precisely. They place a GPS collar around the bear's neck and replace the battery if the animal already has one. Only females are tracked with the collars because male polar bears -- who can grow to 2.6 metres (8.5 feet) -- have necks thicker than their heads, and would shake the collar straight off. Olberg then made a precise cut in the bear's skin to insert a heart monitor between a layer of fat and the flesh. "It allows us to record the bear's body temperature and heart rate all year," NPI researcher Marie-Anne Blanchet told AFP, "to see the energy the female bears (wearing the GPS) need to use up as their environment changes." The first five were fitted last year, which means that for the first time experts can cross-reference their data to find out when and how far the bears have to walk and swim to reach their hunting grounds and how long they rest in their lairs. The vet also takes a biopsy of a sliver of fat that allows researchers to test how the animal might stand up to stress and "forever chemicals", the main pollutants found in their bodies. "The idea is to best represent what bears experience in the wild but in a laboratory," said Belgian toxicologist Laura Pirard, who is testing the biopsy method on the mammals. Eating seaweed It has already shown that the diet of Svalbard's 300 or so bears is changing as the polar ice retreats. The first is that they are eating less seals and more food from the land, said Jon Aars, the lead scientist of the NPI's polar bear programme. "They still hunt seals, but they also take eggs and reindeer -- they even eat (sea)grass and things like that, even though it provides them with no energy." But seals remain their essential food source, he said. "Even if they only have three months to hunt, they can obtain about 70 percent of what they need for the entire year during that period. That's probably why we see they are doing okay and are in good condition" despite the huge melting of the ice. But if warming reduces their seal hunting further, "perhaps they will struggle", he warned. "There are notable changes in their behaviour... but they are doing better than we feared. However, there is a limit, and the future may not be as bright." "The bears have another advantage," said Blanchet, "they live for a long time, learning from experience all their life. That gives a certain capacity to adapt." Success of anti-pollution laws Another encouraging discovery has been the tentative sign of a fall in pollution levels. With some "bears that we have recaptured sometimes six or eight times over the years, we have observed a decrease in pollutant levels," said Finnish ecotoxicologist Heli Routti, who has been working on the programme for 15 years. "This reflects the success of regulations over the past decades." NPI's experts contribute to the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) whose conclusions play a role in framing regulations or bans on pollutants. "The concentration of many pollutants that have been regulated decreased over the past 40 years in Arctic waters," Routti said. "But the variety of pollutants has increased. We are now observing more types of chemical substances" in the bears' blood and fatty tissues. These nearly indestructible PFAS or "forever chemicals" used in countless products like cosmetics and nonstick pans accumulate in the air, soil, water and food. Experts warn that they ultimately end up in the human body, particularly in the blood and tissues of the kidney or liver, raising concerns over toxic effects and links to cancer. © 2025 AFP
