Scientists find new population of polar bears in sea-ice free region

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WASHINGTON - Polar bears face an existential threat from the rapid decline of Arctic sea ice, which they rely on as platforms to hunt seals.

But in a new study, scientists have identified an isolated subpopulation of polar bears in Southeast Greenland that instead make use of freshwater ice pouring into the ocean from the region's glaciers, suggesting this particular habitat is less susceptible than others to climate change.

"One of the big questions is where in the Arctic will polar bears be able to hang on, what we call 'persist'," first author Kristin Laidre, a polar scientist at the University of Washington and Greenland Institute of Natural Resources told AFP.Laidre and colleagues first spent two years interviewing Inuit subsistence hunters who provided input and ecological knowledge, including harvest samples for analysis.

The team tagged the bears with satellite tracking devices, and collected genetic samples by either capturing bears or firing biopsy darts into their rumps. "We know that this population has been living separately from other polar bear populations for at least several hundred years."

 

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