29 Oct 2024        09:49:15 am

Environmental Ecology

Polar Bears

Tags : Polar Bears

Topic: Biodiversity

Why in the news?

• Churchill is a remote town some 1,700 km north of Winnipeg, Canada. It’s a place where forests meet the tundra on the shore of Hudson Bay. The town lures people eager to see its plentiful polar bears, but as climate change edged into the picture, the locals began designing more flexible buildings and seeking to entice more varied visitors if, as scientists fear, shrinking sea ice sent the bear population crashing.

Source: The Hindu 

About Polar Bears:

• These are one of the most significant predators in the Arctic region.
• The big kills made by them serve as a food resource for scavengers like Arctic foxes and Arctic birds.
• If polar bears aren’t able to hunt animals like seals, it can severely impact the food chain and health of the ecosystem.
• Once polar bears can’t find seals to eat, they would quickly move to kill and survive on other creatures in the Arctic region. 
  • This would threaten the existence of species like the Arctic fox or the walrus.
  • Moreover, it might also cause the overpopulation of seals, which could endanger the existence of crustaceans and fish that are an important food source for local human populations as well as other Arctic wildlife.
• They are classified as “vulnerable” on the IUCN Red List.

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