Polar bears may be the largest carnivorous land mammals on earth, but the future of the Arctic’s top predator is frighteningly fragile. Grim forecasts predict that two-thirds of polar bears – whose global population stands at just 26,000 according to the IUCN – could be extinct by 2050.
Roaming the ice sheets, coastal waters, and Arctic tundra of Canada, Alaska, Russia, Greenland, and Norway, polar bears depend on sea ice for their survival. But as the Arctic warms, their habitat is vanishing at an alarming rate.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Arctic summer ice has been shrinking by 12 per cent per decade since 1980. The Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard – where some 300 polar bears live year-round – is one of earth’s most rapidly warming locations.
Vanishing sea ice makes it harder for polar bears to hunt, mate and breed. These apex predators rely on the ice to ambush seals, their primary food source. Despite powerful swimming abilities, polar bears – some weighing over 600 pounds – are rarely fast enough to catch seals in the water, instead they rely on ice cracks to secure a meal.
As the ice melts earlier in the spring and freezes later in the winter, polar bears are being forced onto land for longer fasting periods—which can already last up to six months. This extended food scarcity leads to malnourishment, affecting not just adults but also mothers and cubs, who rely on stored fat reserves to survive the increasingly unpredictable Arctic seasons.
The Arctic’s Fragile King
Rising temperatures are also forcing ‘The King of the Arctic’ into closer contact with people and dangerous diseases on land. Footage of these majestic creatures pawing through scraps of human garbage – laced with toxic non-foods like plastic and metal – in open landfills near to Arctic settlements, is tragic and haunting.
As shrinking sea ice forces polar bears to spend more time on land, conflict between humans and bears is also increasing. In Arctic communities, hungry polar bears are wandering into towns, raiding food supplies, and even breaking into homes. This not only threatens human safety but also puts bears at risk of being euthanised.
A poignant example took place in 2024, when on Brevoort Island, Canada, two polar bears attacked and killed a man near an air-defense radar station. In response, employees killed one of the bears.
Research underscores the link between the bears’ deteriorating physical condition and the likelihood of aggressive encounters. Nutritionally stressed bears, struggling to find food due to the changing environment, are more prone to unpredictable behaviour. A study published in the Wildlife Society Bulletin found that 61 per cent of bears involved in attacks were in below-average body condition.
Addressing these conflicts requires a multifaceted approach that includes reducing attractants like accessible waste, implementing community education programs on bear safety, and developing strategies to minimise encounters.
Innovating for Survival
In east-central Canada’s remote frontier town of Churchill – dubbed ‘Polar Bear Capital of the World,’ its indigenous residents have little choice but to live alongside the Arctic’s top predator, making it the perfect place to undertake a study on human-polar bear coexistence.
‘In many indigenous cultures, knowledge has been passed down through oral narrative tradition, so storytelling is inherent to many indigenous ways of knowing and being,’ the study’s lead author Kt Miller tells The Ethicalist.
The ethnobiologist, Polar Bears International representative and Royal Roads University researcher was supported by a handful of contributing indigenous authors, when interviewing local knowledge holders.
‘Coexisting with polar bears has changed significantly over the last century in the Churchill region.’ Kt explains. ‘The knowledge holders say that in the early 1900s they rarely saw polar bears, and when they did, the polar bears would run away.’
Today being bear aware is just a part of life in Churchill. ‘People teach their kids how to live safely with polar bears and that if the bears are respected, they will reciprocate that respect.’
Despite learning to coexist with polar bears, the region has seen a 25 per cent decline in their population over the past five years prompting conservationists and scientists to develop innovative solutions to monitor and protect these fragile populations.
Scientists are racing to develop better tracking and monitoring systems, like 3M’s innovative fur-mounted adhesive tags, to help conservationists anticipate bear movements and prevent dangerous encounters before they happen.
One major challenge has been tracking male polar bears, as their thick necks prevent traditional radio collars from staying on. Until recently, nearly all movement data came from females
Better known for making post-it notes, a breakthrough tracking device from 3M is changing that. A fur-mounted satellite tag, first trialed in Churchill, is now providing critical new data on male polar bears.
‘The necks of male polar bears are shaped like a pylon, so if you try and put a [traditional] collar on a male, it’s just going to slip off,’ researcher at York University’s Faculty of Science Tyler Ross tells The Ethicalist.
The main author of a study published last July in the journal Animal Biotelemetry, Ross explains that the lightweight tag adheres between the bear’s shoulder blades with a special adhesive and lasts for months before naturally shedding.
Between 2021 and 2022 a total of three different non-invasive fur tags – weighing an average of 114 grams versus a 1kg collar – were attached to 16 male bears by placing them in between their shoulder blades, ‘the spot they’re least likely to reach’ Ross remarks.
A triangular-shaped Tribrush tag stayed on the longest – 114 days when applied with a 3M-made adhesive. Everything from behavioural changes to the amount of time spent resting and moving can be gleaned from the location data retrieved from the satellite tags. This breakthrough will provide critical insights into how they are adapting to their rapidly declining habitat, ultimately helping to shape more effective conservation strategies.
The technology is already being explored for use on other species, from beavers to platypuses, opening up new frontiers in wildlife research.
Can Polar Bears Beat the Climate Clock?
Polar bears are remarkably resilient, but even their genetic adaptations and human-led innovations may not be enough to counteract the rapid loss of sea ice. As ice-free summers become increasingly common, the bears are being forced onto land for longer periods.
Ultimately, protecting polar bears means addressing the root cause of their decline: climate change.
While advances in tracking and scientific discoveries offer hope, the most critical action remains reducing global carbon emissions. Without urgent intervention, these magnificent Arctic predators may not roam their icy kingdom for many more generations to come.
The fate of the polar bear – and the Arctic itself – rests in the hands of those willing to fight for a more sustainable future.
