Polar Bears and Global Warming

[jagathesh]

Polar Bears and Global Warming

Global Warming is the phenomenon wherein the temperature of the Earth is increasing because of various factors and the result is diverse climactic changes all across the world and that is affecting the life of flora and fauna of all parts of the world. The pollution is increasing everyday and the ways to cope with it are limited. As a result of which the effects and counter effects have started showing drastically. It is actually considered that the rise in temperature would lead to the acidification of ocean waters and also ozone layer depletion. The major concern is the melting of glaciers, which implies that there is a fair chance of the world drowning one day and before that the extinction of animals that can only exist in the snow capped mountains and glaciers. Here we would discuss one such species, which is meeting a sad fate due to Global Warming. Polar Bears, which are native of the Arctic, are known as the world's largest land carnivore.

Why are Polar Bears affected?
Being native to the Arctic, these animals are used to live on the ice and the sea and the melting of ice is taking away their habitat in a way. Not only are they losing their habitat but also are also being exposed to starvation since these carnivorous animals mostly feed on seals, walruses and whales which are also disappearing with the change in climate. Moreover the food that they get has high degree of pollutant, which leads to birth defects and reduction in the immunity of these bears.

How are these Polar Bears affected?

As the ice floes are melting, most of the Polar bears are drowning and most of the time these bears drown because the ice caps retreat before their seasonal time to which the animals are not habituated. The drowning is not due to the fact that these polar bears cannot swim, they can actually swim for miles together but they are used to swimming between ice sheets and the absence of ice sheets make them susceptible. The death rate of Polar Bears has increased manifold with rate of ice retreat being on a constant increase. The distance between survival and extinction is ever increasing for these Polar bears and that has also started showing statistically as the number of polar bears are decreasing.

Most of the time it happens so that before these bears can actually hoard enough food for themselves and come back to a safe place the ice melts and catches them at a vulnerable position. Polar bears are also used to hunt seals, the number of which is also declining. The next point is that due to acidification of oceans the marine animals are consuming contaminated food, which in turn is passed onto the Polar Bears who feed on them, thus weakening their immune systems and also leading to birth defects.

Is there any way of saving these Polar Bears?

The answer is " No" of we think from the point of view of finding a solution for Global Warming but there is definitely a gleam of hope that can be seen since these animals are trying to adapt to the changing climatic conditions. The younger bears seem to be able to sustain on the beaches and are also found near the carcasses of whales butchered by humans, which is very unlike Polar Bears. They would hunt for themselves and their preference has always been seals. So this can be seen as a way of adaptation for these creatures and we hope that they do adapt well to the change and sustain it.

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