International Polar Bear Day丨How can they survive in the gradually warming Arctic?

Today, February 27, is International Polar Bear Day.

At this moment, the Arctic has not yet been fully visited by the sun, and the polar bear cub is sleeping with its mother in a snow cave. At this moment, the little polar bear has no idea what kind of world is outside the snow cave. Last June, an unusually long heat wave caused the Arctic region to reach a record high temperature of 38 degrees Celsius. The high temperature is accelerating the melting of sea ice, reducing the hunting opportunities of polar bears.

How to survive in the Arctic where the sea ice is quietly disappearing is exactly the life problem that the protagonist of today's story, a little bear named "Sider", has to face.

In the long polar night of the Arctic Ocean, a white ball of flesh hid in a snow cave, snuggling with its mother, squirming to find warmth. It is called Sai De, a polar bear cub (Ursus maritimus) born in the dead of winter.

Its parents met in the spring and created this little life. Then the father left, leaving the mother alone to wander around, looking for a snow cave where she could give birth. This little life floated in the mother's womb until autumn, when it landed on the thick uterine wall and began to absorb nutrients and grow slowly. More than three months later, Sayde, who weighed a little over a pound, was born with his brother in this December with a long dark night. A pair of babies and a mother, this is the most common family of three among polar bears.

A pair of polar bear cubs | US Fish and Wildlife Service / wikipedia

After more than 20 days, they finally opened their eyes. The little bears tried hard to find their mothers. Only by relying on their mothers could they keep themselves warm and avoid hypothermia and freezing to death; only by relying on their mothers could they get nutritious breast milk. Compared with cow's milk, which has a fat content of only 3.5%, polar bear breast milk has a fat content of more than 33%, which is a rich warmth and satisfaction in the cold.

Spring's first hunt

In March, the sun begins to shine on this extremely cold land. The cubs follow their mother out of the cave, chasing and biting each other and playing. The mother sometimes acts as a playmate or a mount, and sometimes becomes restless. They don't have much time and must rush to the sea ice-covered area as soon as possible. After a winter of consumption and breastfeeding, the mother has become skinny and hungry. She must hunt to feed herself and her growing babies.

Silence, silence. The mother's eyes suddenly focused. Sede didn't know why he was waiting quietly on the sea ice. He didn't know that their main food was under the ice. Seals, especially the smallest but most numerous ringed seals (Pusa hispida) in the Arctic, are the main prey of polar bears.

Ringed Seal | NOAA Seal Survey

The seal, seemingly a lump of meat on the ice, can swim like a flying bird in the water. Even though the polar bear’s large hands can be used for paddling, its slender body can reduce the resistance in the water, and even its Latin name has the word “maritimus” (sea), it is still embarrassingly at a disadvantage compared to the seal, which is like a torpedo in the water.

There is only one way left - an ice raid.

Ringed seals live under large expanses of sea ice. They use their sharp front claws to dig a breathing hole in the two- to three-meter-thick ice. They need to show their heads every 45 minutes to catch their breath, or they will directly jump onto the ice and lazily lie down to bask in the sun. A male ringed seal near the breathing hole left a unique scent, and Mother Said could smell it from two kilometers away. It lay in ambush less than 10 meters from the breathing hole, quietly waiting for its prey to show up.

Polar bear mother with cub | Frank Lukasseck

Time seemed to stand still, and the tense atmosphere made the brothers quiet down. A head popped out of the breathing hole; just as Seid's mother was about to sprint at full speed, the seal's big eyes caught sight of the Arctic killer that almost blended into the ice and snow background, and quickly retracted its head and dived into the water to escape. The wait was in vain.

Life and death battle on ice

The mother shook her head. Polar bears never hibernate, but only stay in snow caves for four or five months without food or water in order to give birth. In order to fast during this period, they caught a lot of fat seals in the previous winter, and only by consuming high fat can they withstand the bitter cold of the polar night. For the first meal in spring, the mother also wanted to let the brothers Said taste this delicious marine fat.

Suddenly, the mother stopped and sniffed the slightly raised ground. Before Side could run over, it stood up, raised its hands high, and hit the big snowpack like a meteor hammer. After three quick hits, it actually smashed a hole. It reached into the hole and whistled out a ringed seal. It was also a mother who dug a hole under the snow on the ice to give birth to her cubs, but she didn't expect that this seemingly solid shelter would be easily discovered and broken by the hungry polar bear mother.

Ringed seal calving hole | Aqqalu Rosing-Asvid / natur.gl

This is a battle of offense and defense in the snow and ice. There is no right or wrong, only who survives to the end.

Despair is spreading

As Said gradually learned hunting skills from his mother and was about to start actual hunting, he discovered a problem - the sea ice was gone.

The melting of the sea ice was nearly half a month earlier than expected, catching Sede's mother off guard. There was no way to ambush the seals, and if they swam to the sea ice further north, the cub would probably drown in the sea. Sede's family had no choice but to retreat back to land.

Polar bears in the drift ice north of Svalbard | Andreas Weith / wiki commons

Although the fat on his body could last him for a while, the fast-growing Said could already feel his body screaming. He was hungry and wanted to eat.

The noisy sounds and the salty smell attracted the Sai De family like a spell. They climbed up the cliff nearly 100 meters above the ground. If they lost their footing, they would be in heaven or hell.

Driven by hunger, they ventured into the breeding grounds of thick-billed murres (Uria lomvia) to steal eggs and catch birds. They were terrified and only caught enough to fill their teeth. The need for fat was irreplaceable, so the polar bear grew much slower; the mother's weight was constantly decreasing. Normally, the mother polar bear would weigh 1/3 less in summer than in winter, but now the situation was bad, and it was completely skin and bones.

A breeding colony of Thick-billed Murres | Michael Haferkamp / wikipedia

Polar bears were everywhere, starving and whirling with eyes gleaming. The long and unbearable ice-free period quietly changed the mentality of these giants. Mother led the brothers Said to walk carefully, avoiding any possible encounters with their own kind.

But you can avoid coincidences, but you can't avoid deliberateness. A male bear, twice the size of Sayde's mother, has been following the family. It is targeting Sayde's brothers. Compared with birds and eggs with a mouth full of feathers and little fat, the bear cubs that are not related to themselves are plump and delicious delicacies in summer.

When Sayde's mother went to check the bird's nest on the ground, the big bear suddenly rushed from behind and grabbed the brother who was walking at the end. Sayde was so scared that he ran to his mother. When he looked at his brother, he saw only empty eyes and bloodshot neck. There was no time to be sad. The mother pushed Sayde away. She knew that she had lost another child forever. If she didn't leave, not only Sayde, but also herself would be eaten.

A twist of fate

Hiding and searching all the way. If they encounter a whale that washes up on the shore, the polar bears will give up the idea of ​​killing each other and gather together to enjoy the feast brought by the sea that still has some mercy. However, Sai De and his son missed this opportunity. They struggled in the east. They waited for the sea to freeze again, but the weather refused to cool down. The sea ice was slow to come. More and more polar bears gathered on the shore, but they were getting hungrier and hungrier.

Photographer captures polar bears sharing a dead whale in Svalbard | Daniel J. Cox / NaturalExposures.com

Said looked at his mother with a hint of melancholy and expectation. This expectation made his mother even more anxious. Looking forward, the ice-free sea brought hunger; looking backward, the bright lights brought anxiety. After much hesitation, she decided to take Said to the human world, where there might be food on the streets.

On Halloween, they took advantage of the darkness and entered the small towns of humans. No one was walking on the streets, no children were knocking on doors asking for candy, it was a quiet night, and I hoped everything would be fine.

Mother led Sadie to look through the big metal trash can. Sadie enjoyed the remaining beef cheeseburger, a little butter on the bread, and a piece of frozen yogurt. This place might be the paradise that could support them through their last difficult time.

Polar bears looking for food in human garbage dumps｜B & C ALEXANDER / ARCTICPHOTO.COM

Suddenly, the room behind him became noisy. Attracted by the sound, Said looked up and saw an animal he had never seen before. She was thin and small, but had white fur similar to his. She stood on her hind legs, holding colorful candies in her front paws.

They looked at each other, puzzled and curious, but not afraid. She leaned forward and smiled, and he walked forward, sniffing.

"No! Come back, Lola!" The woman's scream cut through the darkness. Said's mother heard it and turned around quickly, and found that her son was so close to a little human girl. She roared and anxiously called Said to stay away from this dangerous meeting. "Tata", the sound of a shotgun being loaded, the male owner rushed out with a gun, saw the scene in front of him, and quickly aimed the gun at Said, who was less than five meters away from his daughter. Behind the two cubs, there was a hysterical mother bear and a panicked woman.

Said and the little girl were both stunned, and neither of them responded to their calls. The man pulled the trigger with his index finger, and just as the bullet came out of the gun, the mother bear rushed towards Said like crazy.

"Bang." Blood splashed on Said's face, staining the little girl's polar bear costume for Halloween red. The woman took the crying little girl away. In front of Said was his dying mother with gentle eyes. Her last anxiety and reluctance faded.

The fate of Sayde

Said was sent to the zoo.

Compared to other polar bears behind the icy fence, it is much luckier. Thanks to its mother's feeding, it survived the months with the highest mortality rate. Compared to the polar bears still trapped on the shore, it is also much happier, no longer worrying about how to survive the increasingly shorter sea ice period and not starve. However, it can never return to the vast Arctic snowfield, swim in the sea, have a full meal on the ice, or meet beautiful girls after adulthood.

It is called Sai De, but it cannot defeat time, the changing climate, or the fate of extinction.

Disappearing sea ice, a warm and bloody future | Li Binbin

The protagonist of our story, Sai De, is a fictional character, but similar stories have actually happened in the polar regions. Today, there may still be 19 subpopulations of polar bears living in the Arctic Circle. Even now, in the winter of the northern hemisphere, adult male polar bears are still wandering and hunting on the ice. The reduction in sea ice will directly change the fate of the polar bear population. Scientists predict that by 2050, more than two-thirds of polar bears will disappear due to global warming.

After reading this, have you discovered that “Said” is the transliteration of Sad, which means sorrow. Isn’t the fate of Said people intertwined with that of human beings?

Author: Li Binbin

Editor: hannah

This article comes from Guokr.com. Welcome to forward it, but do not reprint it.

If necessary, please contact [email protected]