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In recent years,
much of the sea ice that polar bears use as a hunting platform for seal meals
has melted, forcing some bears — particularly young males — farther north or
onto land, where they are not as skilled at hunting. When stuck on land for
months, a polar bear typically is forced to survive on its own fat reserves.
The bears were
listed earlier this year as a threatened species under the U. S. Endangered
Species Act as populations have declined. Meanwhile, snow geese are booming
near the western Hudson Bay, and there are in fact too many of them. Their eggs
can be a good food source. The geese nest on tundra (冻原;苔原) that some bears
have retreated to.
"Over 40
years, six subadult (接近成年的) male bears were seen among snow goose nests, and four of them were
sighted after the year 2000," says Robert Rockwell. "I've seen a
subadult male eat goose eggs whole or press its nose against the shell, break
it, and eat the contents."
Ice is melting, on
average, 0.72 days earlier each year in the region studied. Snow geese are
hatching eggs about 0.16 days sooner each year, according to Rockwell and his
graduate student Linda Gormezano. Current trends indicate that the arrival of
polar bears will correspond to the average hatching period in 3.6 years, and
egg consumption could become a viable option, which the researcher
concluded in a statement released today.
A polar bear, the
largest land carnivore (食肉动物), would need to consume the eggs of 43 nests to replace the energy
gained from the average day of hunting seals, but Rockwell and his colleagues
figure that while many polar bears may starve in coming years, the resourceful
animals just might survive disappearance.
Polar bears
survived a warm period about 125,000 years ago, when sea level was 12 to 18
feet higher than it is now and trees lived above the Arctic Circle, the
scientists point out. "They've been
through the warm period before," Rockwell said.
The polar bears'
potential movement to a diet of more eggs brought to mind a quote by Ilkoo
Angutikjuak, an Inuit who lives in the Canadian province of Nunavut, in the
February 2008 issue of Natural History magazine, Rockwell said.
Angutikjuak said: "The animals will adapt. I've heard that because they
depend on sea ice, polar bears will disappear, but I don't believe it. They are
very adaptable. As the sea ice changes, polar bears might get skinnier and some
might die, but I don't think they will disappear."