Photos Of Dying Polar Bears Have People Talking About Climate Change

The extremely thin bear was spotted by photographer Kerstin Langenberger off the Barents Sea on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, which was once home to a thriving population of polar bears, but is now monitored by researchers who have observed extraordinary loss of sea ice due to global climate change. “I see the pack ice disappearing in record speed”. The females, however, which den on land to present beginning to their younger, are sometimes slim. Analysts are speculating they are not a 100 percent sure if the polar bear starved to death.

However, some climate change experts have urged more caution in blaming global warming for what we see in these images. A mere skeleton, damage on her entrance leg, probably by a determined try and hunt a walrus whereas she was caught on land.

Females are particularly affected as they tend to stay on the pack ice with their young and have an increasing struggle to find food, she wrote.

Langenberger said that, although some reports indicate Svalbard bear populations are rising, she has seen several dead bears.

Walter Vetter of the University of Hohenheim and colleagues Venessa Gall and Karl Skimisson recently analyzed the bodies of four polar bears that swam, in an extremely malnourished state, from East Greenland to Iceland.

A British student from Eton College was killed by a polar bear in 2011 in Svalbard.

“In the first year, they lose their first cub”. Yes, I have seen bears in good shape – but I have also seen dead and starving polar bears.

He added: “I don’t think you can tie that one to starvation because of lack of sea ice”.

Well, here comes my question: how can a population be stable if it consist of less and less females and cubs? It is the region wherein tourists generally visit to see polar bears in their natural habitat. I wouldn’t have scientific information to proof my observations, however I’ve eyes to see – and a mind to attract conclusions. A difficulty hunting could be involved.

Sea ice is the house of polar bears’ main meals supply, ice seals, so, so does the bears’ important method of getting meals. Which leaves the bears in a little bit of a quandary, until they will journey northward with sea ice retreat or discover methods to hunt greater recreation than fowl eggs.

National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen snapped a disturbing photograph in 2014 of a dead polar bear in the same region, posting the snapshot to Instagram. It is now becoming much more common.

She said everyone can do something to stop or slow down the effects of climate change. Through @sea_legacy and @natgeo we will continue to shine a light on our changing planet to convince the unconvinced.