Climate Change: Polar Bears Eating Whales in Norway
Due to climate change, polar bears in Norway are increasingly feeding on whale carcasses. Melting ice is forcing the animals to adapt their diet.
A group of filmmakers has captured remarkable footage of polar bears in a remote part of the Arctic Circle, as the endangered animals face growing threats to their survival from the climate crisis.
The footage, showing the bears feeding on a stranded sperm whale, was filmed on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard.
The filming was part of a new Disney Nature film titled Polar Bear, which documents the life of a polar bear family in this remote region.
«The lucky break in Svalbard comes in the form of manna from heaven«, explained Jeff Wilson, one of the film’s directors.
Wilson added that with so much food available, the bears become less competitive and more playful.«It was just a whole bunch of bears feeling comfortable in their own skin and playing with each othern», he said.
While these bears may have been having a good time, the species as a whole is in serious trouble due to the effects of global warming.
The polar regions are losing vast amounts of sea ice due to climate change, driven primarily by the burning of fossil fuels — sea ice that polar bears depend on. According to NASA, the minimum Arctic sea ice extent has declined by 13% per decade since 1979.
Polar bears need sea ice to hunt seals, one of their primary food sources. Rising temperatures in the Arctic may reportedly force the bears to seek out alternative prey, such as reindeer.
A warmer Arctic and melting sea ice mean that many polar bear populations could face extinction by the year 2100, according to a 2020 study. According to the most recent report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), there are an estimated 26’000 polar bears in the wild.
Research from 2018 found that polar bears survived in earlier, warmer geological epochs – when sea ice was reduced and access to seals was difficult – by feeding on whale carcasses.
But that may no longer hold true as the planet warms, the study's authors note. For one thing, they point out, global warming is occurring far more rapidly than it did in the distant past.
In addition, humans have severely decimated the whale populations that polar bears could potentially depend on.
Before they were hunted extensively from the 18th to the 20th century, there were an estimated 1.1 million sperm whales worldwide, according to the nonprofit American Cetacean Society. Today, approximately 360’000 sperm whales remain in the wild.
