National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Friday, August 29, 2008

Photo: Most Polar Bears Gone By 2050, Studies Say


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Two-thirds of the world's polar bears will vanish as melting sea ice causes the animals to starve, according to a new series of reports from the U.S. Geological Survey. The bears prey on marine mammals from the ice, and so will have diminished access to food as warmer climates reduce their hunting grounds.

The new studies are meant to inform the U.S. government in its decision whether to list the bears as an endangered species.

Photograph by Flip Nicklin/NGS