Featured Image Credit: National Geographic Video Screenshot
By: Laura O’Brien
A sad video shows the effects of scarce ice in Svalbard, Norway, which is in the Arctic north. A mother polar bear and her cub are seen making a sad and desperate attempt to find food. Their skin is hanging loosely off their bodies, indicating that the bears are starving. The mother paws a napping walrus, to see if it is dead or weak. Normally, adult polar bears can hunt healthy walruses; however, this bear is too weak to attempt such a kill.
A scientist from the Norwegian Polar Institute in Norway, Jon Aars, said that the mother appears to be so unhealthy that she is most likely unable to lactate. He also told National Geographic, “my guess is [the cub] would very likely die soon if the mother did not find any food”. Aars knew of the pair before the video was shot. He was the one who placed the tracker on the mother bear’s neck.
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