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cover of episode Can refreezing Arctic sea ice help save polar bears?

Can refreezing Arctic sea ice help save polar bears?

2025/6/3
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What in the World
AI Deep Dive AI Chapters Transcript
People
A
Alysa McCall
H
Hannah Gelbart
K
Kerry Nickols
V
Victoria Gill
Topics
Victoria Gill: 作为一名记者，我有幸在加拿大马尼托巴省的丘吉尔镇亲眼目睹了北极熊的生活。我观察到，由于气候变暖导致海冰融化，北极熊赖以生存的捕猎平台正在消失，这严重威胁着它们的生存。它们主要依赖海豹的高脂肪食物来维持能量，但目前没有迹象表明它们能够适应其他食物来源。海冰不仅是北极熊的狩猎场，也是整个北极食物链的基础，它的消失将对整个生态系统产生深远的影响。我对此深感担忧，并呼吁大家关注气候变化对北极熊及整个北极生态系统的影响。 Alysa McCall: 我是国际北极熊组织的科学家Alysa McCall。北极熊是唯一适应在冰冻海洋上生存的熊类，它们也是最肉食性的熊，需要比其他熊类更多的脂肪。海冰对于北极熊至关重要，不仅是它们捕猎海豹的平台，也是北极食物链的基础。海冰中生长的藻类是微生物的食物来源，进而养活鱼类、海豹和北极熊。北极熊的生存与海冰息息相关，海冰的减少将严重威胁它们的生存。

Deep Dive

Chapters
Learn essential survival tips when facing a polar bear, focusing on the advice to punch it on the nose instead of running away. Polar bears are incredibly fast and possess a powerful sense of smell.
  • Punch a polar bear on the nose if confronted
  • Do not run from a polar bear
  • Polar bears can run up to 40 km/h
  • Polar bears can smell prey from 16 km away

Shownotes Transcript

Polar bears are the biggest bears in the world and the only marine bear. There are estimated to be around 26,000 globally. They’re mostly found in Canada, but also in Russia, the US, Norway and Greenland. Their main prey is seal, specifically seal blubber, as they need a diet high in fat to survive the freezing Arctic conditions.

Polar bears are great swimmers but they can’t outswim seals. So they hunt them on the Arctic sea ice, waiting for them to come up for air and then pouncing. But as the amount of sea ice decreases due to global warming, the polar bear populations that live in the more southerly, warmer parts of the Arctic are in decline.

BBC Science correspondent Victoria Gill explains what it’s like to see a polar bear up close and the challenges they’re facing. Alysa McCall, a scientist at Polar Bears International, gives us her top facts about polar bears and Arctic sea ice.

And we explore whether refreezing parts of the Arctic could be a realistic solution, with Kerry Nickols, from Ocean Visions, a non-profit organisation which looks at ways to protect and restore Arctic sea ice.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: Julia Ross-Roy, Benita Barden and Thuong Le Video Journalist: Baldeep Chahal Editor: Verity Wilde