"With the polar bear species in a fight for survival because of disappearing Arctic sea ice, a new distinct group of Greenland bears seem to have stumbled on an icy oasis that might allow a small remote population to “hang on.”
But it’s far from “a life raft” for the endangered species that has long been a symbol of climate change, scientists said.
A team of scientists tracked a group of a few hundred polar bears in Southeast Greenland that they show are genetically distinct and geographically separate from others, something not considered before. But what’s really distinct is that these bears manage to survive despite only having 100 days a year when there’s sea ice to hunt seals from. Elsewhere in the world, polar bears need at least 180 days, usually more, of sea ice for them to use as their hunting base. When there’s no sea ice bears often don’t eat for months."
Seth Borenstein reports for the Associated Press June 16, 2022.
SEE ALSO:
"In A Place With Little Sea Ice, Polar Bears Have Found Another Way To Hunt" (NPR)
"‘Wholly Unexpected’: These Polar Bears Can Survive With Less Sea Ice" (New York Times)
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