Help protect polar bears before it is too late

Sea ice loss leading to difficult hunting conditions

As the sea ice melts, polar bears have more difficulty hunting their main prey - seals. Even though polar bears can survive up to 6 months without food, the continual retreat of the ice caps leads to increasingly difficult hunting conditions which require larger amounts of energy. In these situations, polar bears will be relying heavily on their fat reserves.

Low fat reserves affecting the reproductive cycle

Even though polar bears can survive on low fat reserves, it impacts the reproductive cycle. Polar bear cubs are born in winter. They weigh only half a kilogram but grow to approximately 10kg before leaving the den in spring. During the growth period, female polar bears use their energy reserves to produce milk and feed their cubs often without eating any additional food to replenish their reserves. For this reason, pregnant female polar bears who are not able to build the level of fat required to sustain their bear cubs through winter may abort or reabsorb their fetus, thus not producing any offspring that cycle and impacting the population size.

Sea ice loss cutting off access to maternity denning areas

For some populations, loss of sea ice cuts off paths to popular denning areas such as Wrangel island in Russia or Kong Karls Land in Svalbard.

Oil pollution entering the food chain

Another problem polar bears face is pollution from toxic contaminants such as persistent organic pollutants (POP), heavy metals and even oil itself which are released into their habitat by extraction processes. These contaminants accumulate in the food chain and do not degrade like other particles. As polar bears top the Arctic food chain, they are extremely vulnerable to contaminants. There are negative effects on their health and reproduction.