Polar Bears Could Face Extinction Earlier Than Thought
Polar bears could become extinct faster than predicted. That is because there is a shortage of food in their habitat and scientists have now found out that polar bears need more energy than previously thought.
As a result of global warming, Arctic ice is melting quickly, so that polar bears have to travel further in search of food. In a study that has spanned the last three years, scientists found out that polar bears have to travel one and a half times more than in the past. As a result, they lose weight.
Experiments conducted with modern technology show how polar bears move and behave. High-tech GPS collars were put on 9 female polar bears. Their movements and energy consumption have been tracked over a period of 12 days. Results show that a few of them lost up to 10%of their weight..
According to the World Wildlife Fund, polar bears spend half of their time hunting for something to eat. They rely mostly on young seals as the main source of food, but the seal population is getting scarce because of the melting ice.
A polar bear needs about 12000 kilo-calories a day to stay healthy and even more to put on the body fat it needs to survive the winter months.
Over the past ten years, the number of polar bears has declined by 40%. Ice on their habitat, Arctic Sea ice is decreasing at a rate of 14% per decade. It is currently at its lowest level in 40 years.
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Words
- according to = as reported by ...
- behave = act in certain situations
- body fat = here: the fat an animal needs to protect itself from the cold weather
- collar = band of leather or plastic that is around an animal's neck
- conduct = carry out
- currently = at the moment
- decade = ten years
- decline = to go down
- decrease = become lower
- energy consumption = the amount of energy you need and use up
- extinct = to die out and not exist anymore
- global warming = increase in the atmosphere's temperature caused by more carbon dioxide and other gases
- further = a longer distance
- GPS = system that shows where your position is on earth through a system of radio signals
- habitat = natural home of a plant or animal
- lose weight = become thinner
- melt = when ice turns into water
- predict = to say that something will happen before it does
- previously = at an earlier time
- rely = here: eat
- scarce = not very much left
- scientist = person who is trained in science and works in a lab
- seal = large sea animal that eats fish and lives near coasts
- shortage = not enough
- source = where something comes from
- span = period of time between two events
- study = piece of work that is done to find out more about a subect
- survive = stay alive
- track = monitor, watch closely
- World Wildlife Fund = organisation that wants to protect the environment and save animals and plants