Study: Polar bears struggling to find food

MIAMI: Polar bears are struggling to find enough seals to eat, and the problem will get worse as the planet warms because their metabolisms are much faster than previously thought, researchers said.

The report published in the journal Science on Thursday tracked nine female polar bears in the Arctic’s Beaufort Sea during the spring, which is usually prime feeding season.

They discovered that polar bear metabolism is 1.6 times higher than prior estimates.

Five of the nine bears lost body mass over the span of eight to 11 days because they were not catching enough prey to match their energy demands.

“Four of the bears lost 10% or more of their body mass,” said the report. “One bear lost not only her fat reserves, but lean muscle as well.” Lead author Anthony Pagano, a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said the bears were getting skinnier just as they were supposed to be feasting.

“This was at the start of the period from April through July, when polar bears catch most of their prey and put on most of the body fat they need to sustain them throughout the year,” he said.

Previous attempts to estimate polar bear metabolism were based on certain assumptions that turned out to be false.

For instance, researchers used to suggest that because the bears are primarily “sit and wait” hunters, they expended minimal energy while hunting.

They also posited that polar bears could lower their metabolic rate to save energy if they were not catching enough seals.