REALLY?
Climate change is a global concern and one which requires us all to make great sacrifices if it is to be mitigated. So, yes, you are forgiven for reading such articles with optimism, believing that extensive ice melt can actually benefit our beloved polar bear.
However, what if such articles are not seeing the whole picture, and what if sea ice is more important than we’re giving it credit for? Both seals and whales eat creatures that get their energy from zooplankton, which in turn eat the algae on sea ice. One of the polar bear’s favourite meals, the ringed seal, eats a variety of fish and shrimp that munch on algae-eating plankton. In fact, more than 70 percent of polar bears’ diet can be traced back to the algae growing on sea ice (according to research published in 2018 in the journal PLoS ONE).
Therefore, simply: less sea ice means less habitat, not only for polar bears but also for the sea ice microorganisms that form a big part of the very base of the bear’s food chain. While polar bears may initially love being able to easily access one of their favourite foods, seals, they certainly won’t appreciate it when the seal population is diminished due to the failure of the food chain.
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