Avian influenza has killed a polar bear and may have infected other bears.
The adaptations that polar bears will have to make to meet the challenges brought about by climate change are numerous and unpredictable.
(Shutterstock)
Researchers have made a fascinating observation: a polar bear used a diving hunting technique, never before reported, to capture large moulting snow geese.
Amur tigers are evolved for winter weather.
Ondrej Prosicky/Shutterstock
Climate change has affected food availability for polar bears, which can impact polar bear mothers’ ability to lactate.
Analyzing samples of polar bears can reveal not only what they ate but also the food web during their lives. Polar bears pictured live in captivity.
(AP Photo/Ronald Zak)
Polar bears and wolves may get the glory, but small predators like weasels, foxes and their cousins play outsized ecological roles. And many of these species are declining fast.
Scenes like this one are becoming increasingly common in the Arctic.
ALEXANDER GRIR/Contributor/AFP via Getty Images
Polar bears are increasingly seeking sustenance in human trash because of melting sea ice and a loss of hunting opportunities. The result is a rise in human-bear conflict – and dead bears.
Drying polar bear skin in Hopedale, Nunatsiavut.
(Eldred Allen)
Polar bears are being forced to adapt their feeding habits due to climate change – so reports of summer scavenging, foraging and terrestrial hunting are unsurprising.
The giant predators were a deadly danger to early European explorers of the Arctic.
Chris Hellier/Corbis Historical via Getty Images
This is the story of ‘Misha’, as I have come to know her. Both I and my research have been deeply affected by a polar bear I have never met face to face.
Emperor penguins have uniquely adapted to their Antarctic home.
Christopher Michel/flickr
Emperor penguins have a few hidden tricks to stay warm, like blood vessels in the nose arranged so they can regain most of the heat that would be lost by breathing.
Polar bears ‘invading’ a Russian village have renewed concern over climate change in the Arctic, but human-wildlife conflicts are flaring up everywhere.
Two polar bears walk past a camera trap in Wapusk National Park.
(Douglas Clark)
Never before have grizzly bears, black bears and polar bears been found living in the same place.
A pod of narwhals (Monodon monoceros) in central Baffin Bay. Narwhals are the most vulnerable animals to increased ship traffic in the Arctic Ocean.
Kristin Laidre/University of Washington
Climate change is shrinking Arctic sea ice and opening the region to ship traffic. Whales, seals and other marine mammals could be at risk unless nations adopt rules to protect them.
Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong