Main ideas
- Climate change is the single biggest threat to their survival. By mid- century there could be a dramatic decline in the polar bear population.
- Other threats that affect them are the increased commercial activities, pollution, disease, inadequate habitat protection, and the potential for over-harvest in smaller or declining polar bears populations.
- In the coast of Alaska from 2001-2010, their populations dropped from about 1,500 to 900 bears. Studies show that their population never increases and only decreases.
There are many threats that are making polar bears a vulnerable specie. One of the main reasons this specie is going into extinction is because of global warming. Global warming is when the temperature of the atmosphere is really high. This happens because of the emission of greenhouse gases, were the most common gases are carbon dioxide and methane. Since a lot of these gases are being produced every day we are experiencing really high temperatures all over the world, including the arctic. Since the arctic is having really high temperatures the ice is melting, and this massive blocks of ice have a lot of methane inside, so when they melt they release methane which will cause more global warming.
Another threat, is overfishing. Many people don't actually think this is a problem that affects polar bears but it does. For example, when these boats go for fishing they throw this huge nets that would go even up to 2 km deep and these nets grab everything that its on its way. These nets grab a lot of stuff and this stuff tends to be the food of an animal. For example, seals eat cod and if most of the cod gets trapped in this nets then the seals don't have enough food, so in a point many of them will die of starvation, and if seals die then polar bears don’t have their main source of food. So, like we saw in the food web everything is connected and by removing one specie it could lead to a massive extinction.
Furthermore, a threat that is really causing problems is the oil drilling in the arctic. Right now companies like Shell and Exxon are starting with the extraction of oil in the Arctic Ocean. The problem is that when the companies are extracting the oil they spill it, and this spill goes directly into the ocean, making a huge contamination. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior found there is a 75% chance of a major oil spill in the extraction of oil in the Arctic.
Lastly, another threat that we can see all over the world and that is affecting everything is the trash we throw daily, in which most of this trash is composed of plastic things. If you didn't know plastic never completely dissolves or disappears, it only becomes into small particles that the human eye can not see. The problem is that most of this trash goes into the ocean and many animals are eating it, and since everything is connected one animal eats it then another animal eats the animal that ate the plastic and it goes on and on, and when you realise every living thing in the world has plastic inside their bodies.
Another threat, is overfishing. Many people don't actually think this is a problem that affects polar bears but it does. For example, when these boats go for fishing they throw this huge nets that would go even up to 2 km deep and these nets grab everything that its on its way. These nets grab a lot of stuff and this stuff tends to be the food of an animal. For example, seals eat cod and if most of the cod gets trapped in this nets then the seals don't have enough food, so in a point many of them will die of starvation, and if seals die then polar bears don’t have their main source of food. So, like we saw in the food web everything is connected and by removing one specie it could lead to a massive extinction.
Furthermore, a threat that is really causing problems is the oil drilling in the arctic. Right now companies like Shell and Exxon are starting with the extraction of oil in the Arctic Ocean. The problem is that when the companies are extracting the oil they spill it, and this spill goes directly into the ocean, making a huge contamination. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior found there is a 75% chance of a major oil spill in the extraction of oil in the Arctic.
Lastly, another threat that we can see all over the world and that is affecting everything is the trash we throw daily, in which most of this trash is composed of plastic things. If you didn't know plastic never completely dissolves or disappears, it only becomes into small particles that the human eye can not see. The problem is that most of this trash goes into the ocean and many animals are eating it, and since everything is connected one animal eats it then another animal eats the animal that ate the plastic and it goes on and on, and when you realise every living thing in the world has plastic inside their bodies.
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