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Polar bears use that sea ice to access marine mammals primarily ice associated seals that are their primary prey. Karyn Rode: Polar bears live in the Circumpolar Arctic and they live out the majority of their life history on sea ice that occurs over the arctic oceans and that sea ice, as the earth is warming, the Arctic is seeing some of the fastest changes in global temperatures of anywhere in the world and that’s leading to loss of sea ice. Can you help us better understand their general plight right now in a warming world? Karyn Rode first.I gave the short version of the challenges that polar bears in the wild are facing because of climate change. It’s good to have both of you on the show. Geological Survey’s Alaska Science Center. Karyn Rode is a research wildlife biologist based in Portland with the U. Amy Cutting is the interim director of animal care and conservation at the Oregon Zoo.

It can be difficult to study these animals in the wild though it turns out that polar bears in captivity in places like the Oregon Zoo have helped researchers better understand the challenges facing their wild counterparts. Polar bears are in trouble because the sea ice they rely on is melting in our warming world. We turn now to polar bears, the animals most closely associated with the existential threat of climate change. This transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer.ĭave Miller : This is Think Out Loud. Joining us are Amy Cutting, interim director of animal care and conservation at the Oregon Zoo, and Karyn Rode, a research wildlife biologist based in Portland with the U.S.G.S Alaska Science Center. But polar bears in captivity, including at the Oregon Zoo, are providing a trove of data that is helping scientists unlock clues to the health and survival of their wild counterparts. Scientists face daunting challenges when studying wild polar bears in part because they live in remote places like Alaska’s north coast. Global warming is causing sea ice to rapidly melt, leading to loss of habitat for the world’s largest land carnivore, which uses the Arctic ice as a platform to hunt ringed seals and other prey. Perhaps no animal evokes as potently the existential threat of climate change as the polar bear.