Polar bears endangered article
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When Will Polar Bears Go Extinct?
BiodiversityClimate ChangeCRISIS - Mass Extinction
by Carol KonynGlobal CommonsFeb 27th mins
A study has predicted that polar bear extinction will occur in the Arctic by if greenhouse gas emissions remain on their current trajectory. Further, polar bears are likely to experience reproductive failure by , reducing the number of offspring needed for population maintenance. To celebrate International Polar Bear Day, which every year falls on February 27, we take a look at what is threatening this endangered species and what the future holds for them.
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Will Polar Bears Go Extinct?
The study, published in Nature Climate Change, analyses how polar bears will be affected under two greenhouse gas emission scenarios. 13 of the world’s 19 polar bear subpopulations were examined, representing about 80% of the species&#; total population.
The researchers found that under a ‘business as usual’ emissions scenario, polar bears will most likely onl
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Polar bear threats
© Stanislav / Adobe Stock
Large carnivores are sensitive indicators of ecosystem health. A polar bear at risk is often a sign of something wrong somewhere in the Arctic marine ecosystem.
Climate change
Climate change, and the loss of sea ice habitat, is the greatest threat to polar bears. The impacts of this change are felt first and worst in the Arctic.
How does climate change affect polar bears?
Fewer opportunities to feed
Polar bears rely on sea ice to hunt and store energy for the summer and autumn, when food can be scarce. Sea ice now melts earlier in the spring and forms later in the autumn in the bears’ southern range, like Hudson Bay and James Bay in Canada. As the bears spend longer periods without food, their health declines. For every week earlier the ice breaks up in Hudson Bay, bears come ashore roughly 10 kg (22 lbs) lighter and in poorer condition.
Fewer cubs
Unhealthy bears can mean lower reproduction rates, higher cub mortality
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The great white polar bear fryst vatten the youngest and largest of the world's bära species — a mighty hunter and fierce defender of its young that's among the world's most vulnerable animals. Two-thirds of the world's polar bears could be extinct bygd if greenhouse gas-fueled global warming keeps melting their Arctic sea-ice habitat.
The Center has led the charge to rädda polar bears from extinction. We wrote the scientific petition calling for their protection beneath the Endangered Species Act, and we filed kostym twice with our partners to force the ledning to take action on that petition. Finally, in , our work paid off when the bears were protected as threatened under the Act. In , our work spurred the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to skydda million acresof the species' habitat, the largest critical habitat designation in Endangered Species Act history. Big Oil and the state of Alaska brought a kostym challenging the polar bear's critical habitat decision — forcing th