On either the Discovery channel or Animal Planet they did a special on polar bears. It was depressing seeing all these emaciated bears because their food supply is too hard to get to due to the icecaps melting. They said that in 100 years, (nearly one persons lifetime) polar bears will be extinct... any opinions?
2007-08-13 14:07:33 · 18 answers · asked by f.a.g in drag 1 in Environment ➔ Global Warming
This is not true. There are dozens of polar bear populations in the arctic. Studies show that while some of the populations are decreasing, some are increasing and some are remaining stable. Overall, the polar bear population is staying constant.
2007-08-17 10:05:13 · answer #1 · answered by lsdavidson64 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hunting and poaching is also a threat to polar bears. By the 1970's hunting and poaching had almost wiped out the polar bears. The populations fell to as low as 10,000 in the entire world. Because of global cooperation (not an easy feat in the midst of the cold war) restrictions on hunting were placed, and polar bear populations have started to make a come back. So, while some polar bear populations are increasing because of restrictions on hunting,[1] almost everyone agrees that, now, the overwhelming threat to polar bear populations is the loss of sea ice.[2][3] The Arctic is expected to be ice free during summer months by mid century. By some accounts this will happen as early as 2013. Polar bears are considered marine animals because of their integral link to the sea and to sea ice. They live much of their lives on the sea ice; it serves as a moving platform from which they hunt seals – the mainstay of their diet.[4][5] Because of loss of arctic sea ice, the US Government, Department of the Interior, predicts that Alaska's entire population of polar bears, along with 2/3 of the world's polar bears will be gone by the middle of the century.[6] Currently, of the 19 polar bear populations, the two which where most affected by over hunting are still recovering. The two most studied populations are known to be declining. And there really isn’t enough information on the 15 other population to determine if the numbers are faring with climate change.
2016-05-17 06:45:08 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Polar bears are beautiful. It would seem sad to lose them, but many species have gone extinct over thousands of years. It is the way of nature. The earth evolves all of the time. The earth climate has changed since the beginning of time. Now, it is warming. It will evolve back to cooling in its time. We humans have something to do with it, but I think that it would happen anyway to some degree.
2007-08-13 16:50:55 · answer #3 · answered by Rae 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Polar bears are actually fairly adaptable creature and could survive warmer times like the holocene maximum where the temperature was significantly higher than it is today during the bronze age.
2007-08-13 14:42:33 · answer #4 · answered by Half-pint 5 · 4⤊ 0⤋
The fact of the matter is that the polar ice cap is melting because the heat trapping gasses we emit are causing the infared heat of the sun to warm our planet . their are a few options and if we act quickly enough they could be saved. one option is renewable energy like wind power or geo thermal this would put less dependence on the burning of fossil fuels and therby reduce emissions. another option is get better fuel economy for our vehicles which would also have people filling up less frequently. we could also ratify the kyoto protocal but that wont happen as long as Bush is in office. there are plenty of things you can do around your house as well like switching to energy efficient bulbs, and unplugging your hair dryer or cell phone charger when not in use. I have two websites that you should check out the first is www.climatecrisis.net and the other is www.greenpeace.org....with all of that said I have one more thing, over the fall the nrdc, greenpaece, and and the sierra club along a few others gatherd forces and generated 500,000 petiition signitures to list the polar as a threatend species due to global warming. I think that you will be happy to know that we were successful in our mission. Now the government has to protect the polar bear and their very unstable habitat, and the only way that they can do that is by cutting carbon emissions... but the polar bear is not the only animal being threatend by global warming....if we do act by the year 2050 25% of all species could be extinct. but we are fighting and we will not stop......we as a society have been systemactically knocking out bricks one by one...if we do not act then a collapse will be enevitable. peace
2007-08-13 14:38:09 · answer #5 · answered by jay_giles_fan 2 · 0⤊ 6⤋
Highly unlikely. First, not all wild polar bear populations are at risk. Second, polar bears breed quite well in captivity and thus, as long as we want to keep them around, we will.
2007-08-14 03:19:12 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Every living thing has a finite lifespan. Evolution will never end; no creature (or its habitat) that's living on this planet at the moment is going to be in existence in its present form indefinitely, "global warming" or no "global warming".
2007-08-13 23:57:48 · answer #7 · answered by Robert C 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
They survived the Roman Warming period and the Medieval Warming period just fine. They will adapt to their environment. Polar bears are very smart and they are exceptional hunters.
2007-08-13 15:08:14 · answer #8 · answered by Larry 4 · 3⤊ 1⤋
See dear, along with the global warming the technology is also moving at peaks. So no need to get worried. We must think positively. Scientists are there to save the endangered species.
2007-08-13 17:33:10 · answer #9 · answered by Anikris 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
If Global Warming has its way everything will be extinct in a 100 years
including us
2007-08-13 16:32:30 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋