That provides food for polar bears, he said. Go 30 to 40 miles offshore from Prudhoe Bay in the Beaufort Sea “and you’re in very unproductive waters,” Amstrup said.įurther south in the Chukchi, it’s shallower, which allows bottom-feeding walruses to thrive. Off Alaska, the Beaufort Sea and Chukchi Sea polar bears provide a telling contrast. That has forced the bears to drift on the ice into deep waters - sometimes nearly a mile deep - that are devoid of their prey, Amstrup said. “When sea ice is present over those near-shore waters, polar bears can make hay,” Amstrup said.īut in recent years the sea ice has retreated far offshore in most summers. The bears fare best when they can hunt in shallow water, which is typically close to land. The animals they eat - seals and walruses mostly - are aquatic. Polar bears are land mammals that have adapted to the sea.
One sign: A higher proportion of cubs are dying before their first birthdays. With ice loss, the bears haven’t been doing as well, Amstrup said.
