Feb 12, 2019 08:25 PM
https://mashable.com/article/polar-bears...te-change/
EXCERPT: Stories careening around the web over the past few days have sounded the alarm about an "invasion" of polar bears on an archipelago at the northern reaches of Russia. But for all the sensationalist headlines, there's a likely explanation. [...] Sure, it's an alarming sight. Who wouldn't be terrified by large bears, polar or otherwise, roaming the town where they live and at times "chasing people"?
But, this unnatural polar bear behavior may have been stoked by accelerating changes in the Arctic. As sea ice diminishes, polar bear feeding grounds decline, meaning the wild predators may seek out food elsewhere — like human garbage dumps.
[...] The warming being experienced all over the globe has been particularly accelerated in the arctic region, leading Mashable's own Mark Kaufman to point out that the arctic we once knew is, essentially, gone.
[...] And we already know that polar bears are suffering direct effects of that disappearing ice and other changes to the climate in the arctic. The truth is, we don't know exactly why these polar bears are running amok on a remote Russian island. It could be that there's an extraordinary amount of trash and food and other things attracting a big group of polar bears to its shore. Or, far more likely, the polar bears simply don't have anywhere else to go to find the sustenance and safety they need to survive and, so, they've chosen this island....
MORE: https://mashable.com/article/polar-bears...te-change/
EXCERPT: Stories careening around the web over the past few days have sounded the alarm about an "invasion" of polar bears on an archipelago at the northern reaches of Russia. But for all the sensationalist headlines, there's a likely explanation. [...] Sure, it's an alarming sight. Who wouldn't be terrified by large bears, polar or otherwise, roaming the town where they live and at times "chasing people"?
But, this unnatural polar bear behavior may have been stoked by accelerating changes in the Arctic. As sea ice diminishes, polar bear feeding grounds decline, meaning the wild predators may seek out food elsewhere — like human garbage dumps.
[...] The warming being experienced all over the globe has been particularly accelerated in the arctic region, leading Mashable's own Mark Kaufman to point out that the arctic we once knew is, essentially, gone.
[...] And we already know that polar bears are suffering direct effects of that disappearing ice and other changes to the climate in the arctic. The truth is, we don't know exactly why these polar bears are running amok on a remote Russian island. It could be that there's an extraordinary amount of trash and food and other things attracting a big group of polar bears to its shore. Or, far more likely, the polar bears simply don't have anywhere else to go to find the sustenance and safety they need to survive and, so, they've chosen this island....
MORE: https://mashable.com/article/polar-bears...te-change/