Polar Bear Numbers Could Decline By Over 30% As The Arctic Sea Ice Melts

The melting of sea ice in the Arctic affects the population of polar bears. A study reveals that there is about 70 percent chance the polar bear numbers could drop by over 30 percent by mid-century.

The world's largest bear known as polar bear has a population of about 26,000. This could decline by more than 30 percent over the next 35 years. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) categorized the polar bear as "vulnerable" or at high risk of extinction in the wild.

The findings of the study were printed in the Royal Society's Biology Letters. It was led by Eric Regehr from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage in Alaska and other colleagues, according to Phys.org.

The study suggests that polar bears depend on sea ice for most aspects of their life history. They use the sea ice as a floating platform to hunt seals, which can outswim them in open water. On the other hand, the Arctic sea ice is now melting with a record low of 3.41 million square kilometers in 2012. This was about 44 percent below the 1981 to 2010 average.

Currently, it is reported in the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center that the sea ice extent in October and November was the lowest ever registered for both months. The global warming is to be blamed for this phenomenon. The warming has increased the area's surface temperatures by over than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) compared to the pre-industrial era level, twice the global average.

The study concluded that there is a probability that polar bear numbers would decline by a third in 35 to 41 years with more than 70 percent. The polar bears also face other threats besides the warming of temperatures in area's surface. There are other manmade chemicals that are also endocrine disruptors in the Arctic, according to Bangkok Post.