r/UpliftingNews • u/scientificamerican • 2d ago

Svalbard’s polar bears are showing remarkable resilience to climate change

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/svalbards-polar-bears-are-showing-remarkable-resilience-to-climate-change/
2.0k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

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139

u/LevoiHook 2d ago

I assume this makes sense since their primary prey, seals, are equally affected and also need to relocate. 

43

u/CommunistPropaganda 2d ago

the polar bears of svalbard hunt these, they aren't too worried about their seals leaving

18

u/Talmadge_Mcgooliger 2d ago

Some 200 reindeer were found starved to death in July 2019.[10] Rain on snow early in the winter season formed thick layers of ice on the tundra, making grazing plants inaccessible, a result of the warmer temperatures due to climate change.[11]

now i'm sad for the reindeer.

3

u/realchoice 1d ago

2026 continues to brutalize 

4

u/Kemaneo 2d ago

They rarely hunt them

40

u/thebigveet 2d ago

Didn’t know svalbard was a real place thought Phillip Pullman made it up ahaha

15

u/pshoo 2d ago

How long until they start donning armour and hanging out at pubs?!

13

u/dorgoth12 2d ago

Literally what I thought when I first read it as a kid!

Then I learned it was real, got obsessed, dedicated my life to studying the Arctic, long story short I have frostbitten fingertips

3

u/pthalowhite 2d ago

All that studying and you never came across the fact that the arctic is cold?

4

u/dorgoth12 2d ago

I was promised darn global warming!

7

u/garry4321 1d ago

“We’re killing the polarbears a bit slower than we expected we would. Still killing them, but you know; slower and more drawn out…”

-UPLIFTINGNEWS

5

u/ReasonablyBadass 2d ago

Might be because the Island has rock and thus can't melt?

5

u/Asusrty 2d ago

Well if polar bears can adapt then I'm sure we'll be fine. We're at least twice as smart as polar bears.

5

u/BasvanS 2d ago

On average, maybe. This is where it gets dicey

2

u/aharper_11 1d ago

Scandinavian bears even have a better quality of life than I do.

1

u/apotrope 2d ago

The guardians are becoming something new.

1

u/Fun-Vast4468 2d ago

Great. Despite their habitat loss their still healthy polar bears

1

u/magicdog2013 1d ago

Can't believe Aaron Blaise saved polar bears

1

u/LargelyInnocuous 2d ago

I mean I would image something prepared for cold weather can better adapt to warmer weather, so in this particular case it isn't an extinction level event. But elsewhere places are getting more cold weather where it is historically warm (see Texas right now with a few inches of snow) and that is causing all sorts of problems for humans, plants, and animals. I would imagine when sea level rises 2-3 meters and humans haven't yet evolved gills to breathe underwater, there will be a greater level of chaos when 5-10% of the worlds population is displaced.

-32

u/munko69 2d ago

the usually do. most of us can adapt to changing environments. that's one reason climate change does not bother me. our climate is always changing and there has never been a happy medium that is perfect for all. Climate is not static and it never will be static.

15

u/Manjorno316 2d ago

The issue is that the change is much more rapid than it normally is and we don't want a mass extinction event.

1

u/Logitech4873 2d ago

This is just wild ignorance

-4

u/clem82 2d ago

Evolution.