Polar Bears May Be Turning to Cannibalism

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -

Polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea may be turning to cannibalism because longer seasons without ice keep them from getting to their natural food, a new study by American and Canadian scientists has found.

The study reviewed three examples of polar bears preying on each other from January to April 2004 north of Alaska and western Canada, including the first-ever reported killing of a female in a den shortly after it gave birth.

Polar bears feed primarily on ringed seals and use sea ice for feeding, mating and giving birth.

Polar bears kill each other for population regulation, dominance, and reproductive advantage, the study said. Killing for food seems to be less common, said the study's principal author, Steven Amstrup of the U.S. Geological Survey Alaska Science Center.

"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," the scientists said.

Environmentalists contend shrinking polar ice due to global warming may lead to the disappearance of polar bears before the end of the century.

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http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/tech/2006/jun/12/061205286.html

me so sick.

I read of this behavior back in the 70's. Some hungry male Polar Bears will eat whatever they can get. When I worked at a zoo the male Polar sure as hell wanted to get at the birthing female.

In no way saying that Polars aren't in mortal danger due to climate change, just that this behavior has been previously noted. The effects of climate change will likely increase the frequency of such behavior.

It seems that these magnificant creatures are doomed in the wild and will soon only exist in zoos. A good percentage of the penguins probably aren't far behind.

Collateral damage :-(

After the recent Coca Cola commercials using polar bears to catch the public eye, don't you think it would be nice if Coca Cola ran commercials about the effects of global warming on polar bears, including this? Not saying it would happen (Coke wouldn't care unless it affected their bottom line, and it probably won't), but it would be nice.

We Americans are too busy trashing up the world and tending to our own self interests to care about something as small as global warming!

(Don't you just absolutely abhor the general public's and business attitude that we don't care as long as it doesn't affect us?)

They just don't know what to make of it and what to do about it. We hardly have automobile and housing choices to make. It is also a tremendously complicated subject and hard to figure a solution.

that hopefully doesn't release nearly as much CO2 and that would be much more environmentally friendly. It would take out the so called 'oil crisis' and seriously cut back on global warming. It's always nice to kill two birds with one stone.