Where polar bears live - their habitat

Sea ice habitat

Polar bears are found throughout the circumpolar Arctic on pack ice, along or near coasts, and on islands. They share this habitat with indigenous peoples, and animals such as ringed seals, arctic foxes, narwhal, beluga whales, and millions of migratory birds.

There are believed to be 20-25,000 polar bears worldwide, and about 60% of these are in Canada. Tracks have been reported as far north as the pole, but scientists believe few bears travel beyond 82° north latitude.

The polar bear needs sea ice to survive...

The northern Arctic Ocean has little food for them. Polar bears spend much of their time at or near the edge of the pack ice. This is where they are most likely to find food. As the southern edge of the arctic ice cap melts in summer, some bears will follow the retreating ice north to stay close to seals and other prey. Other bears spend their summers on land, living off body fat stored from successful hunting in the spring and winter.

...but as the Arctic warms, the sea ice declines

When the ice returns in the fall, the bears leave land to resume life on the sea ice. Increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are causing temperatures around the globe to rise. As a result, sea ice in the Arctic is melting earlier and forming later each year.

Polar bears are left with less time to hunt for food. As their ice habitat shrinks bears in the southern limits of the Arctic - especially around Hudson Bay, Canada - face a grave threat to their survival.

At the current rate of climate warming, experts predict that there will be no ice in Hudson Bay by the year 2080.

Read more about the threat of climate change to polar bears