What happens when polar bears are desperately searching for food
Environment — di Andrea Barolini
In the Russian Arctic, numerous cases have been reported of bears forced into acts of cannibalism in order to survive a lack of food.
What happens when polar bears are desperately searching for food
In the Russian Arctic, numerous cases have been reported of bears forced into acts of cannibalism in order to survive a lack of food.
Forced into acts of cannibalism simply to survive. The fate of polar bears in the Russian Arctic could not be more dramatic. The phenomenon was made public by Ilya Mordvintsev of the National Institute of Ecology and Severtsov in Moscow, and cited by the Interfax agency. According to the researcher, this is something that "was rarely observed in the past, whereas it is now becoming frequent, which worries us".
Increase in polar bear cannibalism cases linked to shrinking Arctic ice: expert nationalpost.com/news/world/inc…
The impact of human activities and climate change on the lives of polar bears
The scientist provided no figures, but explained that what is driving polar bears to cannibalism is a lack of food. The natural habitat in which they live is under enormous pressure caused by climate change. To which is added human activity in the Arctic region, which has become strategically important for many nations, both from an extractive and economic standpoint and from a military one. Above all for Russia.
Mordvintsev cited in particular the impact of extraction activities, in search of gas, on the Yamal Peninsula. A business worth billions of euros, which has caused a significant increase in maritime traffic between the Barents Sea and the Gulf of the Ob river. Thereby drastically reducing the territory available for polar bears to hunt.
The case of maritime traffic in the Gulf of the Ob river
"Now the ice in the gulf, which has always been an area frequented by the animals, is broken up all year round," states the researcher. Thus, reports of cases of cannibalism are beginning to arrive even from staff at oil and gas companies and from personnel at the Moscow Ministry of Defence.
Cannibalism on the rise among polar bears as melting ice and human activity erode their habitat, say Russian scientists
u.afp.com/3wwy
u.afp.com/3wwy
The international press also cited another Russian expert, Vladimir Sokolov, according to whom the quantity of Arctic ice at the end of summers has fallen by 40 per cent over the past 25 years. For this reason, polar bears will soon no longer be able to hunt on the ice cap but will be forced to do so on the coasts or in the archipelagos. Or they will be forced to venture into the first inhabited areas in the north of the Eurasian nation.