Cute Polar Bear

In Western Hudson Bay at least, recent studies have confirmed that the ice is melting earlier, apparently in response to climate warming, and that both the condition of bears and their population size are declining.

 

Global warming is not the only threat to polar bears. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are among many pollutants that circulate the globe in the atmosphere. Recent research has shown both that atmospheric circulation tends to concentrate pollutants near the poles, and that the cold polar temperatures condense airborne pollutants. Condensed PCBs, heavy metals, pesticides, and other contaminants fall to the surface, where they enter the food chain. Polar bears eat seals, whose fat stores toxins accumulated from arctic fish. PCBs, pesticides, and other compounds concentrated in bears’ bodies could interfere with normal fetal development. Laboratory studies have shown that PCBs can interfere with sexual development in mammals. PCBs are therefore considered a likely cause of the hermaphroditic bears that have been discovered

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