How does climate change act on polar bears?

            You must have seen pictures of the beautiful white polar bears that live near the North Pole. These majestic animals live in extreme cold and cannot live elsewhere, where there is no ice.

            However, today, the very existence of these animals is threatened because of climate change. Fondly called the white giants of the Arctic, these glorious animals spend much of their life in, around, or on the water predominantly on sea ice. However, it is a sad fact that sea ice in the Arctic is melting earlier and forming later each year, because of global warming. This means that polar bears are left with less time on the ice to hunt for food, mainly seals, and build up their fat stores for survival in the cold.

            As their ice habitat shrinks, skinnier and hungrier polar bears could become extinct by the end of this century. This would be a tragedy because polar bears help us gain an understanding of what is happening of what is happening throughout the Arctic region. If polar bears are at risk, it may also be an indication that something is terribly wrong with the entire Arctic marine eco-system too.

Picture Credit : Google