Hazards
The key danger posed by climate change is malnutrition or starvation due to habitat loss. Polar bears hunt seals from a platform of sea ice. Rising temperatures cause the sea ice to melt earlier in the year, driving the bears to shore before they have built sufficient fat reserves to survive the period of scarce food in the late summer and early fall. Reduction in sea-ice cover also forces bears to swim longer distances, which further depletes their energy stores and occasionally leads to drowning. Thinner sea ice tends to deform more easily, which appears to make it more difficult for polar bears to access seals. Insufficient nourishment leads to lower reproductive rates in adult females and lower survival rates in cubs and juvenile bears, in addition to poorer body condition in bears of all ages. Polar bears live only in the Arctic and are totally dependent on the sea ice for all of their essential needs, including hunting their prey.
The rapid warming of the Arctic and melting of the sea ice poses a serious threat to polar bears. They could be the first mammal to lose 100 percent of their habitat to global warming. As the ice continues to disappear, so will the polar bear. The only way to save the polar bear is to stop global warming and protect their sea ice habitat from melting away. And the only way to do that is to reduce emissions of global warming pollution.
The rapid warming of the Arctic and melting of the sea ice poses a serious threat to polar bears. They could be the first mammal to lose 100 percent of their habitat to global warming. As the ice continues to disappear, so will the polar bear. The only way to save the polar bear is to stop global warming and protect their sea ice habitat from melting away. And the only way to do that is to reduce emissions of global warming pollution.