Arctic warming melts polar bear habitat the size of Alaska
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One British teenager was killed and four others injured recently on an expedition to polar bear territory in an Arctic island of Norway despite traps set to scare them away, and experts say that the bear was likely driven by hunger, while locals commented on a number of attacks in recent years. While shipping companies are taking full advantage of the record-setting lows in Arctic ice, the wildlife has another take entirely.
The loss of so much sea ice in the summer months has a big impact on climate change since the darker exposed water absorbs more sunlight, heating up the seas and therein melting more ice. For the polar bears, walruses and seals that depend on the ice for food and shelter, the farther they have to go to find what they need to survive means the more desperate they become.
Although the British explorers were well trained in surviving the rigors of the Arctic, few if any would be a match for a starving polar bear.
Full story at Alaska Dispatch and Telegraph.
Photo credit: Fotolia
