Polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea, Alaska, USA, may be turning into cannibals due to the lack of ice, which prevents them from accessing their natural food sources.
American and Canadian scientists discovered this phenomenon while investigating three cases of white bears eating each other from January to April 2004 in northern Alaska and western Canada. Among these cases was the first recorded instance of a female polar bear being killed in her den shortly after giving birth.
Polar bears primarily feed on seals and use ice floes as hunting grounds, mating sites, and birthing locations. Cannibalism among them typically occurs during population adjustments, when they seek to become dominant or gain reproductive advantages. Instances of them killing each other for food appear to be much rarer.
“In 24 years of studying polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea in northern Alaska and 34 years in northwestern Canada, we have never encountered polar bears chasing, killing, and eating each other“, the research team at the Alaska Science Center of the U.S. Geological Survey stated.
“This is very important new information,” said Kassie Siegal, the lead researcher. “It clearly shows the severe impact of global warming on polar bears.”
Environmentalists believe that melting ice due to global warming could lead to the extinction of polar bears by the end of this century.
T. An
