Why are the polar bears starving? Why don't the seals move inland?

Question

Okay, so the ice has melted, and they can't get across to the seals- but if the ice melts, surely it'll be too warm for the seals where they were, and they'll go closer to the shore so the bears can get them... what am I missing here?

Answer 1

Without ice it can't get the seals, it is hunting the seals from their breathing holes in the ice.
Even if the seals go on land, its not the way he hunts them.
They smell the breath of seals.

Answer 2

Polar bears can't go and stand at random gaps in the ice that seals use to pop up for air. The ice is becoming like an ocean so the seals can pick a safer place to come up for air.

Answer 3

well, the seals probably dont care if the sea is becoming warmer there - remember it is probably only a few degrees if that. Plus, as the ice melts there will be relatively big chunks of iceberg floating around for them to play on. The problem is that the ice the polar bears would walk on to catch the seals is too thin to hold their weight so they cannot get out to the seals.

Answer 4

Habitats are disappearing and the entire eco-system is in jeopardy. What affects one species, affects all and trickles down the food chain..

Excerpt...
Are animal habitats and spring thaw being altered?
Yes. In the Northern Hemisphere the first freeze occurs 10 days later than it did 150 years ago, and spring thaw begins 9 days earlier. While this may seem like an advantage to farmers and people who dislike the winter, it threatens a large part of the Earth's ecosystem. Certain habitats are simply disappearing, like those of polar bears and seals, while other migratory species are being pushed from their habitats due to air and ocean temperature changes.
Research done recently at the University of Amsterdam indicates that as sea temperatures rise, plankton can be expected to die off, thus starving out the very bottom of the food chain. The sea is one of the earth’s great carbon sinks. The research showed that as temperatures rise, nutrients will fail to reach the surface layers where the plankton live, thus starving the plankton. As plankton die, the rest of the entire oceanic food chain will be threatened.

Answer 5

jeep driver gave a good answer. Polar Bears can swim. If they were hungry enough they would swim to get the seals. One nature documentary of one small piece of an ecosystem does not mean Polar bears are going extinct. Try to search for any long term research, (field data) to see how a large ecosystem is changing before you start getting too concerned.

Answer 6

Did the seals get wise ? maybe there moving in the other direction so that the bears cant get them ? I dont know and its a hard one because there all animals and need to survive so its a no win situation - arghh - now wheres that penguin game gone where you flip them across the screen ! ok being serious now maybe the ice hasnt melted as much as it needs to for the seals to swim ?

Answer 7

Seal do not have to go inland because it is hotter. It is still very cold despite the ice melting. It does not mean it is worse for the seals, if the ice melts, just worst for the polar bears since they can;t swim very good and they use their white fur for seals not to see them.

Answer 8

Polar bears are one of natures BEST swimmers. They have swam clear out to the Kodiak Islands in search of food and mates. If they are starving, I think it is a natural thinning process that must be going on or an illness within the bears.

Answer 9

They have to wait for a flow of ice to come in and freeze,they can then move around to hunt

Answer 10

There's probably not enough seals now, due to man clubbing them to death!! Gruesome.