02/26/2020 - 17:13
- Clarín.com
- Dresses
The cases of polar bears that kill and eat each other are increasing in the Arctic with the melting of ice and human activity that destroys their habitat.
"Cannibalism among polar bears is a long established fact, but we are worried because these cases that used to occur rarely are now quite frequent, " warned Russian scientist Ilya Mordvintsev.
The researchers claim that cannibalism among polar bears is now "quite frequent."
"We can say that cannibalism among polar bears is increased," added the expert, a researcher at the Severtsov Institute for Problems of Ecology and Evolution in Moscow.
In a presentation in the city of St. Petersburg, the researcher suggested that the behavior may be due to lack of food.
"In some seasons there is not enough food and bears attack bears with cubs," he said.
The increase in cases may also be due to the fact that there are more people who work in the Arctic and realize this behavior.
"Now we get information not only from scientists but from an increasing number of workers in the oil sector and employees of the Ministry of Defense."
This winter, the area of the Gulf of Obi to the Barents Sea where polar bears used to hunt, is now a busy route of ships loaded with liquefied gas (LNG), said Mordvintsev, with the consequent destruction of ice in this area.
More and more polar bears leave their usual hunting places.
Russian researchers have found an increasing number of polar bears that abandon their traditional hunting grounds due to the melting of ice due to climate warming.
In the last quarter of a century, the ice level at the end of the Arctic summer has been reduced by 40%, says another scientist Vladimir Sokolov, who predicts that polar bears will have to stop hunting in the icy sea and will be confined to the lakes and archipelagos near the pole.
