Polar bears will they permanently disappear at the end of the century? This is the conclusion of a study published Monday in Nature Climate Change. Researchers have looked into the greatest threat facing polar bears today: the gradual disappearance of their habitat, the sea ice, from which they catch the seals essential for their diet.
The carnivore, which lives in arctic regions where the temperature can drop to -40 ° C in winter, can fast for months, especially during the summer period when the sea ice melts every year. But with global warming, twice as fast in the Arctic, the absence of ice lasts longer and longer.
25,000 polar bears in the world
The estimated 25,000 polar bears are distributed among 19 distinct subpopulations in Canada, Alaska, Siberia, Svalbard and Greenland, some of which are poorly understood.
To save the species, some evoke a reintroduction of animals bred in captivity, even their move towards Antarctica.
