When you purchase through links on our site , we may earn an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it works .
deprivation of Arctic ocean chicken feed is linked to a decrement in polar bear birth rates in Canada ’s Hudson Bay , accord to newfangled inquiry . If the trend continues , the polar bears in the neighborhood could be face a universe crisis .
In fact , if climate change continues unabated , the researchers say , polar bear populationsacross the entire Arctic will be in serious trouble .
A polar bear and her healthy cub, a sight that could be increasingly rare in Canada’s Hudson Bay.
Polar bears swear on ocean ice during their search time of year , using the solid floes to attain waters rich with seals — polar bears ' main intellectual nourishment source .
Researchers at the University of Alberta in Canada canvas ocean ice data from the nineties on , and find that as temperatures increased andsea ice level drop , so did the number ofnewborn polar bear cubs .
Polar bear mother retreat to a maternalism den during pregnancy , never once emerging for food . An former saltation ice breakup keep down the hunt time of year , and pregnant females are n’t able to cumulate enough torso fat to support them through their 8 - month fast , when they must remain hidden in their den to carry their new and give birth .
A polar bear and her healthy cub, a sight that could be increasingly rare in Canada’s Hudson Bay.
Using numerical modeling to estimate the impact of a telescoped hunting time of year , the enquiry team found that if ice in the Hudson Bay vanish one calendar month before than in the 1990s , between 40 and 73 percent of meaning distaff polar bears will not give parturition to a surviving cub .
If the ice is gone a full two month earlier , between 55 and 100 percent of pregnant bear will not procreate .
According to the most late estimate , Hudson Bay is base to about 900 pivotal bear , down from 1,200 bear in the preceding tenner .
Since the region ’s bear universe is the world ’s most southwards , they are the first to be regard by global warming trends .
However , the researchers say that if temperature across the Arctic remain to lift , much of the world universe of gelid bears will be at risk .
The inquiry is detailed today ( Feb. 8) in the diary Nature Communications .
This article was provided by OurAmazingPlanet , a sister site to LiveScience .
