Support The Moscow Times!

Melting Arctic Forces Polar Bears to Adapt to Land-Based Diet – Russian Scientists

Russian researchers say they are seeing fewer malnourished polar bears despite shrinking Arctic ice pushing the animals further south. Pixabay

Polar bears are being forced to adapt to a land-based diet as their hunting grounds in the rapidly melting Arctic shrink, Russian scientists said Friday on the eve of International Polar Bear Day.

Polar bears have been forced south by rising temperatures and melting ice cover, limiting their ability to hunt seals and walruses and increasing encounters with human settlements. 

Researchers have in recent years observed fewer malnourished polar bears than previously recorded, said Ilya Mordvintsev of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

“Their behavior suggests that they are finding ways to adapt onshore,” Interfax quoted Mordvintsev, a senior researcher at the Academy’s Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, as saying.

Polar bears are growing bulkier because they have begun to actively catch fish, oxen and geese, said Alexander Gruzdev, who heads the Wrangel Island Nature Reserve in the remote Chukotka autonomous district that is home to some 800 polar bears.

“When there was a large number of lemmings, the bears dug through the entire tundra digging them out and waiting out the ice-free period,” Interfax quoted Gruzdev as saying.

Mordvintsev said scientists are unable to calculate the current polar bear population due to the Arctic’s vast size and inaccessibility, the state-run TASS news agency reported.

Russia’s Natural Resources and Environment Ministry plans to carry out regional polar bear population counts and combine the data in 2024, according to TASS.

Polar bears, with a global population of up to 30,000, are listed by the World Wildlife Foundation as vulnerable and are listed in Russia’s Red Book of rare and endangered species.

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter

Our weekly newsletter contains a hand-picked selection of news, features, analysis and more from The Moscow Times. You will receive it in your mailbox every Friday. Never miss the latest news from Russia. Preview
Subscribers agree to the Privacy Policy

A Message from The Moscow Times:

Dear readers,

We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."

These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.

By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.

Once
Monthly
Annual
Continue
paiment methods
Not ready to support today?
Remind me later.

Read more