Polar bears in Antarctica have been found to live in an area without ice

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This is a “secret” population of polar bears that survived without ice despite the fact that this is the main element for their survival

A secret population of polar bears in Greenland has been discovered, in a seemingly impossible to live habitat as it does not have the necessary sea ice that they use as land to move and hunt for food.

This paradoxical herd, which scientists once perceived as a member of another similar population, is in common view and yet has not been perceived for hundreds of years.

The ice is the main element for the survival of polar bears, as they can hunt seals that are their main food source.

The new discovery suggests that at least some polar bears may be able to adapt to the disappearance of sea ice as climate change worsens, according to the study.

“Glacial ice may help small numbers of polar bears survive longer periods of global warming, but it is not available to the vast majority of polar bears,” Christine Lendr, lead researcher at Polar Science Center University, told Live Science. of Washington.

According to the research team, polar bears were kept alive thanks to freshwater ice from glaciers dumped at sea.

According to scientists, despite the ominous estimates of a large decline in the population of Arctic polar bears, this discovery is a small hope given that current conditions in southeastern Greenland are similar to those expected in the Arctic at the turn of the century.

“I think they can teach us something about where rare, small numbers of polar bears could survive in an ice-free Arctic,” she said. Christine Ledr, lead researcher at the University of Washington in collaboration with the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources.

“They are geographically, genetically and demographically isolated, which means they do not communicate with other bears,” Lendr said, although she made it clear that the herd was not evolving into a new species.

“Occasionally, there is an ‘immigrant’ who comes and adds genetic diversity to the group. “But because they are so geographically isolated, they do not have a large genetic contribution from other polar bears in other parts of the Arctic.”

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