Polar bears in western Hudson Bay in northern Canada are rapidly disappearing, warns a recent study released Friday by the Canadian government.
You researchers recorded 194 bears between late August and early September 2021flying over the region of Churchill, a city at the gateway to the Arctic in the Canadian province of Manitoba, which proclaims itself “the capital of the polar bear”.
From this census, the scientists estimated there were 618 polar bears in the area.
The previous census, carried out in 2016estimated that there were 842 polar bears in this region.
“Comparison with aerial survey estimates from 2011 and 2016 suggests that the abundance of the Western Hudson Bay population may be declining,” the study notes.
The researchers point out that females and calves were particularly affected by this drop.
In the Arctic, global warming is up to four times faster than in other parts of the world
Although they are not able to confirm with certainty the reasons for this drop, they mainly point, as possible factorsTHE moving the animal to neighboring regions or even hunting.
“The observed declines are consistent with long-held predictions regarding the demographic effects of climate change on polar bears,” they noted.
You bears depend on ice for food seals, move and reproduce.
But no ArcticO global warming is up to four times faster than in other parts of the worldaccording to the most recent studies.
Little by little, the pack ice, habitat of the polar bear, is disappearing. Since the 1980s, the sea ice has shrunk by almost 50% in summeraccording to the National Snow And Ice Data Center.
According to a report published in Nature Climate Change in 2020, this could mark the near extinction of this iconic animal: there were 1,200 individuals in the 1980s.
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