Polar bears are becoming cannibals while losing their homes

September 24th, 2008 · 7 Comments

The polar bears are eating themselves.

…to clarify, they’re actually eating each other.

The good folks at PlanetSave have a quick article up on the state of the polar bear, particularly Sarah Palin’s reticence to believe that the species is really threatened.

Well, guess what, Mrs. Governor?

CNN reported today that, due to the increasing scarcity of food and sea ice, polar bears are being driven to desperate lengths, up to and including cannibalizing one another.

Where I come from, cannibalism is a sign that something is seriously wrong, so I guess we’ll wait and see if Palin changes her tune, or just keeps on toeing the oil companies’ party line.

The most interesting thing to come out of this whole polar bear situation, though, is the debate over rescue vs. prevention and protection vs recovery. It could be a whole new world for species management, or the science community could get another slap-in-the-face from the government. I’ll weigh in on that one soon.

photo by ironmanixs

For more information on polar bears, and amazing photos, check out:

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Polar bears don’t belong in Antarctica Wired.com had an article on their front page this...
Sarah Palin, McCain’s VP, loves oil drilling, not polar bears I don’t have a full history of Palin’s environmenal...
Homeless Polar Bears Appear in DC; Bomb Squad Attacks A joint art project by Greenpeace and Mark Jenkins...
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Tags: endangered species

7 responses so far ↓

1 ...... // Sep 26, 2008 at 7:53 pm

Palin sucks the oil industry
2 John // Sep 28, 2008 at 4:42 am

So did this male polar bear eat the female polar bear or just kill it; which would seem to be appropriate if you were trying to reduce the competition for seals. But that was in 2004. So what is the murder rate up to these days (among polar bears)?
3 sciencesays // Sep 28, 2008 at 5:02 am

John - great question. The article indicated there were “increasing reports of starving Arctic polar bears attacking and feeding on one another in recent years.”

However, like you, I find that statement unsatisfying - I’ve contacted the best authorities I can think of and you can check back here for your answer. - Jeff
4 Adam Shake // Sep 30, 2008 at 10:30 am

Thanks for broadening this issues range. Global Warming and it’s effects on Arctic Sea Ice is an important one. The fact that the media is using the Polar Bear as a talking point is great, because the Polar Bear is something that people can relate to.

The larger problem of melting sea ice covers such a broad range of topics that it’s impossible to mention them all here, but the even bigger picture is that there are 5 strategic threats to our Global Water System, and this is just one of them.

Keep up the good fight and Alter the Eco,

Adam Shake
5 sciencesays // Sep 30, 2008 at 1:17 pm

–UPDATE– 9/30

Kassie Siegel, the staff attorney from the Center for Biological Diversity who was quoted in the CNN article, has replied with very helpful information about this situation.

She quotes from Amstrup et. al. 2006:

“During 24 years of research on polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea
region of northern Alaska and 34 years in northwestern Canada, we have not
seen other incidents of polar bears stalking, killing, and eating other
polar bears. We hypothesize that nutritional stresses related to the longer
ice-free seasons that have occurred in the Beaufort Sea in recent years may
have led to the cannibalism incidents we observed in 2004.”

And said:

“So I think its absolutely correct to say that there are increasing reports,
since before the ice started retreating dramatically, there had never been
any reports of such behavior.”

I hope that clears up any confusion, John. The papers show a very disturbing situation emerging up in the arctic. Thanks are due to Ms. Siegel for her help.
6 Dolphin's Get it! // Oct 1, 2008 at 10:43 am

I think it would be JUSTICE to see a POLAR BEAR EAT SARA PALIN!!!
7 More polar bears becoming cannibals // Nov 18, 2008 at 7:45 am

[...] released a new video today documenting the plight of polar bears, this time in Alaska past the ege of the Arctic [...]