From: julianlzb87@gmail.com   
      
   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"   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)