Why Polar Bears Have Resorted to Cannibalism in Russia’s Arctic?
Human interference has led to an increase in cannibalism in polar bears of Russia’s Arctic. Rapid climate change and fossil fuel extraction in the region have destroyed their habitat and forced them to resort to feed on each other. Yes, that’s true!
Polar Bear expert at Moscow’s Severtsov Institute of Problems of Ecology and Evolution, Ilya Mordvintsev reveals that due to melting ice and fossil fuel extraction in the Arctic, the habitat of polar bears is getting destroyed.
Scientist reveals that there has been an increase in polar bear cannibalism in Russia’s Arctic / Image: Reuters
Rising temperatures and industrial activities in the area have drastically declined the ice levels and forced the animals out of their traditional hunting grounds or on to the shore areas where food is rather scarce. The ice levels in the Arctic have decreased at least by 40 percent over the last 25 years.
Cases of cannibalism among polar bears are a long-established fact, but we’re worried that such cases used to be found rarely while now they are recorded quite often.
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Global warming and an increase in human activity in the Arctic have led to a rise in polar bear cannibalism incidents. Large males are attacking females and cubs because they are easy targets and mothers are eating their babies.
Polar bears usually venture out into sea ice to hunt seals swimming in the waters, but with a lack of ice, they are being forced onto the shore where they cannot hunt as usual and it is harder to find the nutrients needed to survive.
This winter the area from the Gulf of Ob to the Barents Sea, where polar bears used to hunt, is now a busy route for ships carrying liquefied natural gas. Linking this change to active gas extraction on the huge Yamal peninsula bordering the Gulf of Ob, and the launch of an Arctic LNG plant.
It is really heart-wrenching to see that mankind does not even hesitate to destroy the very environment it lives in.
Via: Eco Watch
