How Polar Bears Adapt To Climate Change

A lot of concern has been expressed over the future of polar bears as climate change seems to be melting their ice flows and environment. Scientific studies, in fact, have shown polar bear populations are droppingalong with the sea ice. Many people worry that the humongous furry white predators are losing their access to food as the floating ice platforms they use to hunt seals, their basic food, disappear fast.

All may not be lost, however, as analysis of polar bear poop by scientists indicates they may be more flexible than previously thought and are adapting to climate changes. Research conducted in the western part of Hudson Bay in northern Manitoba, Canada on the south range of polar bear hunting grounds show they may be adapting by changing up their food supply.

Polar poop showed bears now were eating birds, eggs, and berries as substitutes for seal meat. They’ve also been observed drinking hydraulic fluid drained from forklifts, eating lead acid batteries, and consuming snow machine seats in attempts to adjust their diets. It’s apparently proving a lot easier for them to do this than try to stay up with the fleeting ice and seals and may be working.