Up Close and Personal With… Polar Bears
Many stories, campaigns and adverts focussing on plastic pollution highlight the devastating impacts to our dolphins, seabirds and turtles. Yet we seem to forget the elusive Arctic and Antarctic species also battling against our consumption. Polar bears have been the frontman of climate change and for a good reason but we shouldn’t forget that these fluffy yet ferocious creatures have plastic on their plates too. The fact we are negatively influencing a whole species most of us will never even see in a lifetime, never even get within several hundred miles of, really shows that our consumption has finally gone too far.
Polar bears reside in the Arctic which contains eight countries including Russia, Norway and Canada. Only 22,000 to 31,000 of these endangered marine mammals remain patrolling northern ice sheets with a mighty 50% of their time spent hunting for food which comes in the form of ringed or bearded seals which are packed full of fat to keep polar bears warm. When they are not stalking the ice, they take to the sea and are able to keep up an impressive pace of six miles per hour by paddling with their front legs whilst their hind legs splay out behind them acting as a rudder.
Until recently, we thought we knew a lot about polar bear antics from various icy expeditions, however a new study discovered that polar bears actually need 60% more food than we initially thought as they burn through a whopping 12,500 calories a day; six times more than your average human! This means food is hugely important for polar bears, yet both climate change and plastic are jeopardising their food supply. GPS trackers have been attached to several female polar bears to track their hunting habits. After nine days, one female had swum an astonishing 426 miles but most worryingly of all, four of the nine bears didn’t manage to catch any food at all in over a week, partially due to the effects of climate change. On her 426 mile voyage, the female lost 22% of her body weight including some muscle mass.
Polar bears have a unique and relaxed way of hunting. They head out onto the mass of sea ice and lie next to the breathing holes formed by seals. Anywhere between a few minutes and several hours later, a seal may pop up through the hole for air. At this point, the polar bear makes his move by standing on his back legs and smacking the seal on the head with his two front paws; something similar to the whack-a-mole games found in outdated neon amusement arcades. Once the bear has stunned the seal, he bites the back of its neck before dragging it onto the ice for a feast and there is no exaggeration in feast; a polar bear can eat up to 100 kilograms of food in one sitting! While polar bears have adapted well with this technique, the increasing loss of sea ice in summer means their hunting ground is shrinking year on year. By 2050, we are expected to have no summer Arctic sea ice. This consequence of global warming leaves polar bears with two options; either travel much longer, demanding distances to reach sea ice packed with seals, or stay on the mainland and hope their fat reserves last them the summer months.
For those staying on the mainland, malnutrition is a severe yet sadly common problem which causes them to seek out food in more southerly locations. It’s easy to forget that polar bears live in the same regions as small human populations but bear and human interactions are becoming more and more frequent. In 2019, 52 bears descended on the Russian outpost of Belushya Guba in what was nicknamed a ‘polar bear takeover’. The bears were forced down from the North in a bid to find food in the form of abandoned human waste. The tiny communities that live in this barren landscape cannot gain the resources or finance needed to run large scale waste facilities like many of us benefit from which means many are left to dispose of their waste themselves. For some, this means burning waste in heaps upon the snow while for others, waste is left in unlined landfill where liquids and toxins can seep into the ground. Polar bears however, only care that food is left out in the open where they can access it. However, the trouble with scrounging food in the Arctic is that the plastic wrapping becomes frozen to dinner leftovers, which means polar bears are feasting on pasta but also plastic. One study examined polar bear carcasses and found that 25% had plastic in their stomachs, most often in the form of shopping bags and bin bags. While digestion of plastic isn’t pleasant for all species, for polar bears it’s particularly bad as the tube linking their stomach to the small intestine is especially narrow so any plastic causes them great pain and in return, more aggressive behaviour; a huge problem if they start expanding into human-occupied areas.
If ruining their hunting ground and polluting their secondary food choice wasn’t enough, we are also polluting their main food source with plastic too. The Arctic is a hotspot for plastic as the Gulf Stream sweeps waste away from America and the Caribbean and up towards our no longer quite so pristine Arctic. Here the ocean current turns rather sluggish, leaving plastic piling up in a cold, dark cul-de-sac. With microplastics in high density, filter feeders and plankton mistakenly chomp down on them and the plastic can start to release the industrial chemicals coated on their surface into the tissues of living animals. These toxins accumulate up the food chain and by the time polar bears, the top predators, snack on seal blubber, they are in dangerously high levels. Scientists have spoken about plastic causing hormonal disruption for a while but now a polar bear has been born with two reproductive systems; a genetic defect caused by plastic’s toxins.
Don’t fear though, scientists are not just the deliverers of bad news; they are also thinking of every possible solution to protect them. An Arctic bay in Canada has been chosen as a location where polar bears are thought to have the best chance of survival and in the near future, this could become a protected area for breeding. However, to keep the population numbers healthy, scientists have several plans. One idea sees helicopters drop large chunks of meat over the region to sustain the bears when natural food sources are in short supply. This directly targets their largest threat, however it could cost the Canadian government $2 million per month! Therefore, more long term solutions have been sought to protect the whole species from extinction. Plan A sees polar bears tranquillised and relocated from other regions of the Arctic to Canada. This will increase the genetic diversity of the local population which will hopefully help create the most resilient individuals. If this fails, plan B is a potential possibility. Grizzly bears are very genetically similar to polar bears, yet they are much better adapted to survive a warmer world. If the polar bear population becomes critically low, scientists believe it would be possible to place a polar bear sperm and egg into a grizzly bear which would then give birth and raise the cubs. Researchers even briefly considered artificial ice floes to save this species so there is no stone left unturned in the plight to save the polar bear. All that’s left, is for us to act.
It may seem difficult to protect the polar bear whilst you are sat looking over your English countryside, New York skyline or Gold Coast beach, yet all the problems these creatures are facing are down to our consumption. 80% of ocean plastic comes from the land before circulating in ocean currents and so by cleaning up your act and moving away from single use plastic, you can really make a difference. Climate change is arguably still the greatest threat to polar bears, so if you want to make a difference, why not walk, bus or cycle to work, turn off unneeded electrical devices or, if you have the option, think about switching to an energy provider who is committed to renewable energy. If campaigning is your thing, why not jump on that bandwagon. Even if it isn’t, environmental protests have turned a corner in the last year with Greta Thunberg leading a whole brand new army of protesters all willing to create a positive permanent change in order to save our planet. This could be your chance to be involved in one of the greatest and most meaningful revolutions of our time.
If you would like to find out more about why the Arctic is full of plastic, see our earlier blog entitled ‘Why is the Arctic Polar Region a Plastic Hotspot?’.
By Neve McCracken-Heywood