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Polar Warriors
Polar bear was the surprise star of New Year hit, The Golden Compass. In Flipside 27 Arctic trekker Louise Murray recounts her own experiences with these much feared animals. But, she explains, as climate change starts to bite they have much more to fear from us.
 There are around 25,000 polar bears in the Arctic. In May of 2006, the polar bear became the first animal to be listed as vulnerable to extinction due to climate change by the IUCN World Conservation Union. The most southerly bears are at greatest risk as the earlier melting of sea ice leads to shorter periods when the bears can hunt their ringed seal prey on the frozen surfaces of James Bay and Hudson Bay.
The western Hudson’s Bay population has been studied continuously since 1981, by Ian Stirling, a scientist at the Canadian Wildlife Service. His research shows a 17% decline in bear numbers during the last 10 years. ‘Ice is melting there about three weeks earlier than it did 30 years ago,’ says Stirling. The earlier ice breakup cuts short the prime seal hunting season, critical for the bears to gain condition. ‘For a polar bear, not all weeks are created equal, they are losing three weeks at the best time of the year for feeding on the ice, when seal pups are abundant and bears put on fat that they store for the four lean months that they have to live onshore.’ As mothers are in poorer condition, their cubs are born lighter and this affects survival. Incredibly the most southerly bears live as far south as London, though in a much colder climate in Canada’s James Bay.
 Warming due to climate change in the arctic regions is occurring twice as fast as in the rest of the world and scientists predict that the Arctic Ocean may be ice free in the summer in 20 – 50 years time making life difficult for even the more northerly bears. Polar bears evolved from grizzly bears between 200 and 300,000 years ago, and so well adapted are they to their icy home that they just do not have the time to evolve backwards into land living plant eaters, but if they cannot adapt, and fast, these iconic animals may disappear from the planet altogether within a century.
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