Polar bears are the biggest species of bears and they weigh almost 400 pounds more than other species. They like to be alone. The cubs of polar bears when born are quite petite. So, it’s amazing that an adult fully grown bear weighs 1100 pounds. They also don’t drink water and derive it from their food. The skin of the polar bear is covered with white fur. But it’s not white. It’s without any color and consists of hollow tubes that imbibe light reflecting it to make it appear white. Polar bears also like to meat from dead animals and humans if it’s available.
Yes it’s true that today polar bears are facing extinction. Although polar bears have been included in an endangered species list of an act of such animals in 1973, the US government has reconsidered its decision and included them in the threatened category under the same act on May 14, 2008. The reasons why polar bears have become endangered are many. This has happened as the natural habitat of the polar bears, Arctic Sea has started melting. Although the US government has decided to develop a plan to prevent this extinction, it is also thinking about exploring melted arctic waters for oil and gas which are the main cause behind this change. The established oil and gas industries in this region have caused pollution resulting in a melting of the frozen seas.
The endangered polar bears will cease from the face of earth within a period of 45 years if nothing is done about it. Global warming is also one of the reasons due to which polar bears have been forced to face such an outcome. This is because the Arctic Ice has also melted due to a rise in the temperatures caused by global warming. The population of polar bears has faced a reduction by 15% in the last 10 years. Their fasting period which exists in summers has also increased by 3 weeks since the period of 1970’s. Fasting period just refers to the time during which they wait for the formation of ice so that they can hunt for seals, their food. But, now due to global warming, a lot of time lapses since ice formation happens. Lack of snow and hence seals in the arctic region forced many polar bears to cover long distances and they drowned in doing so. This happened in the northern Alaska region. Scientists have noted that the continuance of global warming trends in arctic will lead to the extinction of the 2/3rd s population of this animal by 2050.
Global warming has also resulted in the death of other animals apart from seals in the arctic region which has depleted all the natural food reserves for polar bears. The only animals now surviving in arctic are the polar bears themselves but they can’t hunt their own kind just to live.
Another cause for this death of polar bears is human hunting. Humans have been using polar bear fur for decades now.
