By Natalia Lima / Source: Ecorazzi

A new published study warns that unless the ice caps are saved, polar bears might disappear with them.

Published on Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, a new study by a group of scientists examined the diets of polar bears who have been foraging on land due to melting ice caps and the conclusion is that they cannot get enough nutrition that way.

“This paper establishes in no uncertain terms that polar bears are very unlikely to be able to make a living on land, and that if we don’t save the sea ice, polar bears will indeed be gone,” said Steven Amstrup, chief scientist at Polar Bear International and retired USGS polar bear researcher.

The main issue seen by the group of scientists is that the options on land, like berries, eggs from ground-level nests, and animals like caribou don’t have the same nutrition value of fat-filled animals like seals that polar bears are used to hunting.

Today there are 19 existing populations of polar bears divided into four regions. In three of them, polar bears have only known how to live in the ice but in one of them, which includes the area of Hudson Bay, the polar bears have had to go on land for food since the summer ice caps melt.

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