From: tsm@fastmail.ca   
      
   On Feb 2, 2026 at 1:41:11 PM EST, "Julian"  wrote:   
      
   > On 02/02/2026 16:29, Tara wrote:   
   >> On Feb 2, 2026 at 9:25:30 AM EST, "Julian"  wrote:   
   >>   
   >>>   
   >>> Polar bears are getting fatter in the fastest-warming place on Earth   
   >>> Shrinking sea ice has made life harder for polar bears in many parts of   
   >>> the Arctic, but the population in Svalbard seems to be thriving   
   >>>   
   >>> Polar bears have been getting fatter even as sea ice disappears in   
   >>> Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, the fastest-warming place on Earth – but   
   >>> scientists don’t expect the good times to last.   
   >>>   
   >>> The northern Barents Sea, which stretches between Svalbard and Russia’s   
   >>> Novaya Zemlya in the Arctic Ocean, has been heating up seven times   
   >>> faster than the globe as a whole. The sea ice around Svalbard lasts two   
   >>> months less in winter and spring than it did two decades ago. Bears now   
   >>> have to swim 200 to 300 kilometres between hunting grounds on the ice   
   >>> and snow dens on the islands where they give birth.   
   >>>   
   >>> But the average size and weight of the Svalbard bears have increased   
   >>> since 2000, a finding that surprised Jon Aars at the Norwegian Polar   
   >>> Institute, who led the study.   
   >>>   
   >>> “We should think about this as good news for Svalbard,” he says.   
   “But if   
   >>> you want bad news, you can just go and look somewhere else where you   
   >>> have very, very firm evidence that climate change is impacting polar   
   >>> bears negatively.”   
   >>>   
   >>> This wide-ranging, solitary predator is split into 20 populations across   
   >>> the far north, where it is extremely difficult to count. While its   
   >>> numbers are declining in parts of Alaska, Canada and Greenland, they   
   >>> appear to be stable or increasing in other places. For nine of the   
   >>> populations, data is too sparse to say.   
   >>>   
   >>> The Barents Sea population, which was estimated at 1900 to 3600 bears   
   >>> two decades ago, is thought to be stable or perhaps even growing.   
   >>> Starting in 1995, Aars and his colleagues tranquilised 770 bears with   
   >>> dart guns from helicopters. They hopped out onto the snow or ice to   
   >>> measure their length and, to estimate weight, their girth at the chest.   
   >>>   
   >>> Trend analysis showed this body condition decreased until 2000, then   
   >>> increased until the end of observations in 2019.   
   >>>   
   >>> In the spring, when ringed seals give birth to pups on the sea ice,   
   >>> polar bears hunt them to build up stores of fat for the ice-free months.   
   >>> Aars and his colleagues believe the shrinking ice area may be making   
   >>> these seals easier to find.   
   >>>   
   >>> The bears are also exploiting new food sources. The approximately 250   
   >>> individuals that remain on the islands when the ice recedes may be   
   >>> hunting more bearded seals along the coast, as well as harbour seals,   
   >>> which are spreading to Svalbard as the climate warms.   
   >>>   
   >>> These “local bears” are increasingly ransacking duck and geese colonies   
   >>> for eggs, and they have been seen chasing down reindeer from a growing   
   >>> cervid population. The carcasses of walruses, another species that is   
   >>> increasing there, can provide weeks of feasting.   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>> Alec Luhn / New Scientist   
   >>   
   >> Everybody and everything is adapting to the changes.   
   >> Some win, some lose. Predictions and Surprises.   
   >>   It's a new world again.   
   >   
   >   "It's like déjà vu all over again"   
      
   :)   :(   :/   :)   
      
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