#polarbear #polarbears #kpassionate
Polar bears were fitted with cameras so scientists could see if the bears can adapt to longer summers and shrinking sea ice. The incredible POV footage offers a breathtaking look at life in the changing Arctic through the eyes of a polar bear.

00:00 - KPassionate
00:36 - Polar Bears Were Fitted With Cameras
01:55 - Polar Bear Range
03:05 - Polar Bears vs Seals
04:43 - Polar Bear Adaptations
05:43 - How Much Do Polar Bears Eat?
06:18 - How Many Polar Bears are Left?
08:56 - Polar Bears International
09:29 - Polar Bear Climate Change

Polar Bears International → https://polarbearsinternational.org/a...

Polar bears are classified as marine mammals because they spend most of their lives on the Arctic Ocean, depending on sea ice for their food and habitat. But not all sea ice is the same. The way ice moves, melts, and forms varies from region to region. The dynamics are so different that scientists from Polar Bears International have divided the polar bear’s range into four distinct ecoregions. The Archipelago, Convergent, Divergent, and Seasonal Sea Ice Ecoregions.

Spread across these 4 regions are 19 distinct polar bear populations. 2 of the polar bear populations are growing. 4 are likely stable. 3 have seen significant loss in the number of bears. The other 10 polar bear populations are a complete mystery. We know little to nothing about those bears.

Polar bears have perfectly evolved to prey on ringed seals and bearded seals, which polar bears catch from atop the sea ice. Seals will cut 10 to 15 breathing holes in the ice and they’ll keep these holes open all winter long. Every 5-15 minutes, seals will surface to breathe at one of the holes or at air pockets trapped under the ice. Polar bears can smell a seal's breathing hole from more than half a mile away. When a seal surfaces… the polar bear strikes.

Polar bear heads are longer and more slender than other bears so they can fit into these holes. Even polar bear teeth are specialized for seals. Polar bears have a larger gap between their sharp, front canines and back molars. This is known as a diastema and it acts like a hook for a polar bear to snag a seal. Polar bear skulls have an elongated crest - the longest of any bear - giving polar bears the strength to pull a seal out of the water.

Healthy polar bears only eat the seal blubber, leaving the carcass for scavengers such as ravens and arctic foxes. One polar bear can eat 45 kg (or 100 lbs) of seal blubber in a single sitting, providing about a week’s worth of energy.

In 1980, there were 1,100 polar bears in the Seasonal Sea Ice Ecoregion. As of 2022 the population was just over 600 polar bears.

Sources
[1] https://polarbearsinternational.org/p...
[2] https://www.nature.com/articles/s4146...
[3] https://www.science.org/content/artic...
[4] https://royalsocietypublishing.org/do...
[5] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...
[6] https://crowdsourcingsustainability.o...
[7] https://www.usgs.gov/search?keywords=...

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