Large carnivores are sensitive indicators of ecosystem health. Polar bears are studied to gain an understanding of what is happening throughout the Arctic. A polar bear at risk is often a sign of something wrong somewhere in the arctic marine ecosystem.
Look after a virtual polar bear on Facebook, learn about its Arctic home and invite your friends to join your polar bear family.
JOIN THE UMKY PATROL
'Umky Patrol' or Polar Bear Patrol, is a project in which polar bear researchers, inhabitants of the Arctic coast and environmental organisations work to preserve the natural habitat and the harmonious existence of humans and wildlife. CLICK HERE to read the latest Umky Patrol news.
'Umky Patrol' or Polar Bear Patrol, is a project in which polar bear researchers, inhabitants of the Arctic coast and environmental organisations work to preserve the natural habitat and the harmonious existence of humans and wildlife. CLICK HERE to read the latest Umky Patrol news.
Threats to polar bears
Latest polar bear news
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23 Oct 2009
Alaska critical habitat for polar bears declared
WWF applauds the announcement of the proposed designation of key areas of polar bear habitat across Alaska by the US Department of the Interior. The requirement for the identification of 'critical habitat' was triggered by the listing of polar bears as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act in 2008.
Downloads
- Effects of climate change on polar bears 629 KB pdf
- Facts and Fallacies about Polar Bears 400 KB pdf
- Status and distribution of polar bears 4.54 MB pdf
- Polar Bears at Risk 373 KB pdf
- Polar bear tagging 2.97 MB mpg
- The Future of Polar Bears 13.61 MB mov
What's happening to polar bears?
The area covered by arctic sea ice is melting at an unprecedented rate. Polar bears need sea ice to access their food, and to move from hunting grounds to their denning or summer resting areas. This loss of habitat is the greatest threat to polar bears in the near to longer term.
Toxic chemicals from the south that concentrate in the Arctic add further stress to polar bears, while oil exploration and development in the Arctic affects polar bears by fragmenting and disturbing their habitat, and by introducing oil and other toxic substances to their environment.
Increased Arctic shipping will also increase habitat fragmentation and disturbance, and will increase the likelihood of cargo spills, and spills of fuel oil. In this changing environment, it also becomes more difficult to determine what level of hunting is sustainable. As with many other Arctic species, polar bears face not just one threat, but a variety of threat in different combinations over their range.
Hunting
The international Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears allows for the taking of polar bears for use by local people using traditional methods and exercising traditional rights. WWF supports the right of indigenous peoples to continue to sustainably harvest local animals.
Today, legal hunting of polar bears by non-native sport hunters is only found in Canada. The community itself decides what proportion of the quota it has been issued for subsistence hunting will be used for outside sport hunters.
In the areas that lack regular monitoring of populations and harvest levels, such as Russia and Greenland, little information is available on current hunting practices. Since it is not known whether killing polar bears is balanced against the sustainable yield of a known population size in such areas, there is reason for concern regarding the sustainability of these practices.
Climate change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has confirmed that human-induced climate change is a reality. It can no longer be dismissed as a theory. In the Arctic, climate change impacts are being seen earlier and more dramatically than elsewhere in the world.
In the southern range of polar bears, for example in the Hudson and James Bays of Canada, sea ice is now melting earlier in the spring and forming later in the autumn. The time bears have on the ice is shorter making it more difficult for them to store the energy they need to survive the summer.
As the periods without food become longer, the overall body condition of these polar bears declines. This is particularly serious for bears that are pregnant or have cubs, and for the cubs themselves. In Hudson Bay, scientists have found the main cause of death for cubs to be either lack of food or lack of fat on nursing mothers.
Toxic pollution
As a top predator, polar bears are exposed to high levels of pollutants through their food. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) include a wide range of poisonous substances such as heat resistant chemicals (eg. PCBs), industrial by-products such as dioxins and furans; and pesticides like DDT, dieldrin and lindane.
Although some of these chemicals are no longer widely used, they stay in the environment for many years. The chemicals were transported from the south by wind and water currents. When they hit the colder arctic, the chemicals are deposited on the water and ground, and enter the food chain. As larger animals eat smaller ones, the chemicals become more concentrated, so that the largest animals of all often have the highest load of chemicals in their bodies. Long-range POPs currently represent the most serious pollution-related threat to polar bears.
Bears with high levels of some POPs have low levels of vitamin A, thyroid hormones, and some antibodies. These are important for a wide range of biological functions, such as growth, reproduction, and the ability to fight off diseases.
Oil exploration
Petroleum exploration, extraction, transport, and processing in the Arctic affects polar bears and their habitat in many ways. There are already large installations and operations in the Arctic and the oil and gas business is increasingly moving into the Arctic as more accessible reserves in the south dry up.
Onshore arctic oil installations are currently found in Russia, Canada, and Alaska. Oil and oil products potentially pose serious health risks to polar bears.
Contact with oil spills can reduce the insulating effect of the bears' fur. The direct effect is that the bear must use more energy to keep warm, and must compensate for this energy loss by increasing its caloric intake, which may be difficult. Given that polar bears have very limited access to food for long periods of time, such an increased demand for food may result in starvation, particularly as the oil affects the whole food chain on which the bears rely.
The area covered by arctic sea ice is melting at an unprecedented rate. Polar bears need sea ice to access their food, and to move from hunting grounds to their denning or summer resting areas. This loss of habitat is the greatest threat to polar bears in the near to longer term.
Toxic chemicals from the south that concentrate in the Arctic add further stress to polar bears, while oil exploration and development in the Arctic affects polar bears by fragmenting and disturbing their habitat, and by introducing oil and other toxic substances to their environment.
Increased Arctic shipping will also increase habitat fragmentation and disturbance, and will increase the likelihood of cargo spills, and spills of fuel oil. In this changing environment, it also becomes more difficult to determine what level of hunting is sustainable. As with many other Arctic species, polar bears face not just one threat, but a variety of threat in different combinations over their range.
Hunting
The international Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears allows for the taking of polar bears for use by local people using traditional methods and exercising traditional rights. WWF supports the right of indigenous peoples to continue to sustainably harvest local animals.
Today, legal hunting of polar bears by non-native sport hunters is only found in Canada. The community itself decides what proportion of the quota it has been issued for subsistence hunting will be used for outside sport hunters.
In the areas that lack regular monitoring of populations and harvest levels, such as Russia and Greenland, little information is available on current hunting practices. Since it is not known whether killing polar bears is balanced against the sustainable yield of a known population size in such areas, there is reason for concern regarding the sustainability of these practices.
Climate change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has confirmed that human-induced climate change is a reality. It can no longer be dismissed as a theory. In the Arctic, climate change impacts are being seen earlier and more dramatically than elsewhere in the world.
In the southern range of polar bears, for example in the Hudson and James Bays of Canada, sea ice is now melting earlier in the spring and forming later in the autumn. The time bears have on the ice is shorter making it more difficult for them to store the energy they need to survive the summer.
As the periods without food become longer, the overall body condition of these polar bears declines. This is particularly serious for bears that are pregnant or have cubs, and for the cubs themselves. In Hudson Bay, scientists have found the main cause of death for cubs to be either lack of food or lack of fat on nursing mothers.
Toxic pollution
As a top predator, polar bears are exposed to high levels of pollutants through their food. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) include a wide range of poisonous substances such as heat resistant chemicals (eg. PCBs), industrial by-products such as dioxins and furans; and pesticides like DDT, dieldrin and lindane.
Although some of these chemicals are no longer widely used, they stay in the environment for many years. The chemicals were transported from the south by wind and water currents. When they hit the colder arctic, the chemicals are deposited on the water and ground, and enter the food chain. As larger animals eat smaller ones, the chemicals become more concentrated, so that the largest animals of all often have the highest load of chemicals in their bodies. Long-range POPs currently represent the most serious pollution-related threat to polar bears.
Bears with high levels of some POPs have low levels of vitamin A, thyroid hormones, and some antibodies. These are important for a wide range of biological functions, such as growth, reproduction, and the ability to fight off diseases.
Oil exploration
Petroleum exploration, extraction, transport, and processing in the Arctic affects polar bears and their habitat in many ways. There are already large installations and operations in the Arctic and the oil and gas business is increasingly moving into the Arctic as more accessible reserves in the south dry up.
Onshore arctic oil installations are currently found in Russia, Canada, and Alaska. Oil and oil products potentially pose serious health risks to polar bears.
Contact with oil spills can reduce the insulating effect of the bears' fur. The direct effect is that the bear must use more energy to keep warm, and must compensate for this energy loss by increasing its caloric intake, which may be difficult. Given that polar bears have very limited access to food for long periods of time, such an increased demand for food may result in starvation, particularly as the oil affects the whole food chain on which the bears rely.