I would love to see the fat vs. body mass stats kept during the last 100 years. But my guess is a few researches spot a few thin looking bears and jump to a conclusion.
Any chance they are adapting to the warmer weather we had this year and need less fat ?
I would love to see the fat vs. body mass stats kept during the last 100 years. But my guess is a few researches spot a few thin looking bears and jump to a conclusion.This link sheds some light on that.
The Shrinking Polar Bears
Quotes:
"Eighty per cent of the adult bears in the Churchill area have been tranquillized, handled, tagged, tattooed, weighed and measured, had blood drawn, teeth checked, their behaviour and life history recorded, many more than once."
...
"The scientists have found that for every week the ice breaks up earlier the bears come ashore 10 kilos lighter."
This article also notes that the Manitoba/Hudson Bay population is the best-studied polar bear population anywhere.
If historical records are to be believed for four hundred years the Vikings lived in Greenland and actually prospered. It was originally called Vineland because the mild climate enabled grapes to be grown. Then the climate turned cold and they had to abandon Greenland. So what did Polar Bears do during that warming phase? Phone for takeout? Anyone who has been to the Exit Glacier near Seward will have seen the signs which start miles away showing where the glacier was at different dates. Two hundred years ago it was six miles away. Was there global warming caused by cars two hundred years ago? Not likely.
I would love to see the fat vs. body mass stats kept during the last 100 years.Didn't the government just change the body mass / fat ratio statistics and make 3 million Americans instantly overweight?
I wonder if they have one for polar bears. :)