How are the polar bears losing there homes and drowning, they swim?

Question

They can swim for many miles.

Answer 1

They can only swim so far.  As the ice packs get smaller, the distance becomes too many miles for them.  They become exhuasted and drown.

Answer 2

They can swim, but they can't hunt while swimming.  They need ice for that.

Desperate polar bears are swimming long distances to look for places to hunt.  Sometimes they don't succeed.  When it's a mother hunting to feed her young, they all starve to death.

This is much uglier than many people realize.

Answer 3

Polar bears live on the ice not ice covered ground or mountains but the literal ice. The ice is melting, which is not only a problem regarding the polar bears' habitat, but also their food, and mating practices. In the artic, it is a very intricate eco system, and can become unbalanced very easily. This will sooner rather than later affect us as well but that is  not so black and white.

Polar bears can swim up to 50 miles before needing to stop. It is a great distance considering the temps of the water and their size, but it is in vain when the ice is melting and they are not able rest when they need too. Unfortunately, the melting ice has drawn prey further away from normal nesting and migriting areas so the bears are having to take greater risks in surviving.

Answer 4

Consider this excerpt written recently:

UNBEARABLE?

Few generations of young people can have been so betrayed by the adult world that their natural instincts lead them to trust, and which they depend on for security and guidance than those of today. If they're not in parts of the world that are being bombed, looted, or exploited for cheap labor, they are cynically manipulated to become wage and tax slaves on the consumer treadmill and force-fed a diet of scare stories and politically correct ideologogies designed to instill fear, conformity, and subservience. The latest emetic that I read told of children coming home in tears after being told at school that we're wiping out the polar bears. Well, sorry, but the world was as warm in the 1930s as it is now, warmer in the late medieval period, warmer still in Roman times, a lot warmer a few thousand years before that when southern England was tropical, and the polar bears came through just fine. Actual studies of present populations show that they're again managing to thrive regardless--maybe because they don't watch TV.

By James Hogan 2008

Answer 5

for many miles? maybe they can't sense where the nearest land mass is, and possibly they are eaten by a whale before they can get to land.

Answer 6

Haven't polar bear populations boomed for the past century?

Answer 7

Okay, there's a couple of good, rational answers here, but the majority of you who've answered are so stupid as to be classified as mentally retarded.

Polar bear population is at the highest level it has been since attempts at counting polar bears has begun.  That being said, the Canadian Government (the only ones that are actually counting polar bears) says that they're not really sure how many polar bears there are in total as there are hundreds of thousands of square miles that they have not investigated.  They have said that in the places that they've found the bodies of polar bears that have starved is do to the population increasing so rapidly that they are over hunting their food supplies.

Why do you people that want to list links for reports always have links to groups like th BBC (rabidly socialist anti-american newspaper, that admits themselves that almost all of their reports on global warming have been wrong), and PETA, who would like the human race to go away.  The canadian government is the only group doing legitimate research on this topic.

Finally, go to this site:

http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com/200...

To see that arctic sea ice is actually expanding.

Answer 8

yes, polar bears swim.

But to swim, they need energy. To get energy, they need food. To find food, they hunt.

Melting ice is sweeping away their hunting grounds, so they swim a lot further to find new hunting grounds.

and they need to store energy into fat; and swimming is a demanding job.

Answer 9

Yes you are right they can swim for many miles but nothing can swim forever. They have to rest and need a place to call home. I wouldnt consider swiming all day and night as a good home. :) Their home is pretty much gone because they ice is melting.

I hope i helped.

Answer 10

Polar bears are marine mammals which can survive in land and water , polar bears can swim, we all know that polar bears live in sea ice (that is, ice that melts for part of the year) covering the waters over the continental shelf and the Arctic inter-island. Global warming as the most significant threat to the polar bear, primarily because the melting of many  sea ice habitat reduces its ability to find sufficient food.

Answer 11

A polar bear can swim for a 100km or 60miles before they need to rest.Last fall we lost 3,000,000 square km of permanent ice in two weeks.The polar bears that were on the ice far from shore did not have a chance.The ice disappeared to quick.They rely on the ice to hunt.They normally wait at a opening for a seal to surface for air and they grab them.With the ice gone they have to swim after them and there hard to catch in open water.Now you have tired hungry bears having to swim far greater distances than ever before .With the ice gone the Arctic ocean can get ruff.They are not used to swimming in waves.The ice used to keep the water calm when there was only small areas of open water.

Answer 12

When a population like the polar bear are dying for any reason other than starvation, we expect to see a build up of the  species they would ordinarily eat. It is not happening.

But seals are scarce, and under weight. Native hunters have also been finding it difficult to feed the family with fish.

So, how much of the bears'  dying is a result of swimming too far, how much is a result of having eaten too little before they set out?

Native hunters have always had to compete with bear for food, and the bear has always been a formidable enemy,  so at least bear dying means that the native hunter may get more seals to eat.

Answer 13

they live on land and swim to eat and travel.  They give birth and nest on land.

Answer 14

you guys are forgetting the can fly too.

Answer 15

They can only swim for so long.  The icefloats they live on are shriking, and their hunting grounds are shrinking.  They are having to swim farther to find food and shelter and they are drowning or starving - the babies especially drown easily and they have to go with their moms.

Answer 16

Stop being an *sshole. They can only swim so far and you know that. If a whole chunk of ice disappears from the north pole they can't survive that.

Answer 17

Polar bear are fantastic swimmers but they have their limits,

the distances are very great ,between the floating bits of ice ,and are getting more all the time and the ice islands are getting less.

many get trapped by the spaces of water so to speak ,

Also wading through slush is very exhausting ,And ice does not support them any more so they are crawling half swimming ,very sad to see

they cannot walk and pounce as they did to hunt seal before .

the time span between meals is to great to keep cubs alive or maintain energy for long distance swimming

Watch a BBC documentary by David Attenborough

he did about 15 movies called Planet earth

the ones called Future ,the ice worlds ,from Pole to Pole ,

covers the poles and shows footage of polar bears swimming

And they can drown eventually from exhaustion

you have to see the film to realize the distances involved.

Also some very impressive stuff with polar bears attacking Walruses in desperation ,because their normal game and normal way of hunting ,of seals on ice is gone.

So Hunger is also doing the bears in.

this goes with the changes in Habitat

If the bears are near land they may adjust and start hunting people, the next game on their list

Answer 18

How many miles do you think they can swim? Are we assuming that the bears are all in prime condition, and that a swim of exceptional length will have no consequences for an individual? That there are no other mitigating factors?

Despite the fact that the polar bear is  the only species of bear to have international protection, there is great concern over these creatures in the last few years, as scientists recognize with growing concern that polar bear conservation is needed in light of a number of factors, including climate change, contaminants in the Arctic, and other issues.