There’s all the reason in the world to adore the cute hyper carnivorous mammals, residing in the far arctic ocean, enjoying the company of their mates amidst the sheer sea and ice bergs.
Yes, we are talking about the Polar Bears.
But are we, the human race collectively doing enough
to safeguard them and their habitat?
About Polar Bears
These are the same polar bears who, today, are
vulnerable and endangered.
Polar bears generally have a life span of 35 to 40
years, weighing around 1500 pounds, living in diverse areas such as Alaska,
Canada, Russia, Greenland and some parts of Norway. Ice is their natural
habitat and they mostly hunt on sea life under the sea ice.
There are currently 25000-30000 polar bears residing in different parts of the whole wide world. However, this cannot be the correct number as in some places, there is no count whatsoever because of scarcity of data.
Global Warming taking a toll on the Polar Bears
Now the question arises, how are polar bears endangered?
However, we will focus on the “Why” part. Well, the main reason behind
endangering of polar bears is global warming.
Global warming is resulting in rise in the
temperatures and increasing the impact of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
The high paced melting of the icebergs due to excess heat is causing climate
change hence, making the environment alienable for the polar bears.
Polar bears cannot survive in heat and this is the
only thing they are getting from the mankind. Back in August 2020, entire world
was shocked with the sudden incident of melting of the Greenland’s glaciers
which crossed the tipping point and as research says, it won’t be able to
recover now. Even the snowfall which used to replenish the little melting in
the past will not make any difference because a lot of damage has already been
done.
Impact of Global Warming on Polar Bears and Humans
This melting of ice bergs will not only affect the
animals but also the people living in those areas. These melting glaciers and
ice bergs will lead to floods and such a huge loss of mankind and sea life.
Polar bears on an average spend 50% of their time hunting and if they are deprived of their
hunting grounds, they will turn to mankind and will find ways to hunt and kill
humans.
Polar Bears making Humans their new Prey
A Recent report show that 56 polar bears descended to a
Russian village because of Arctic ice shrinkage.
People living in the villages observed that this
happened because Polar bears didn’t get strong ice to roam on. These bears were
also seen feeding themselves on the garbage waste. Some of the bears also
attacked the humans while wandering around the village. Who is to be blamed for
this situation?
We can say that the human negligence is now leading to a human massacre.
As of now, global warming is nowhere looking to halt. People are just not aware of their actions and they certainly don’t have any idea about the toll that it is taking on the climate. We just know, that if global warming doesn’t reduce, it will harm not only humans, but every living organism who is the part of this environment.
Written by - Anamika Malik
Edited by - Tushna Choksey
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